Review Summary: Cerekloth carve out their own sinister and bloody niche in the death metal scene.
Denmark's Cerekloth arrive with a unique take of an old sound on their debut full-length.
In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death showcases the band carving out their own sinister and bloody niche in the death metal scene.
In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death is no bullshit, doom-tinged, dissonance filled death metal pulled straight from the depths of the 90s. Cerekloth have managed to create something that is shockingly fresh despite the obvious influences and their general lack of care for pushing the boundaries of the genre. The powerful, muddy punch of the drum sound is right behind the signature Autopsy brand of dissonant, sludge-y guitar riffs that permeate Cerekloth's debut release. The guitar sound is a mixture of both the muddy, mid 90s Cianide guitar work and the buzz-saw riffs of Wombbath. The guitarists in Cerekloth have a clear vehemence on individual notes being played that create an attractively off-putting sense of darkness and depth that is enhanced by the organic capture of the recording. The growls of Jens B. Pedersen have a hint of Chris Reifert to them, but he varies up his deeper, guttural tones with mid-range vocals that provide a nice range of variation unlike most of the modern day death metal bands.
In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death rarely manages to show off anything that death metal hasn't done before, but when the band’s execution is as perfect as it is on this record and they offer a small variety of variation then it really doesn’t matter. Togged in dissonance and melody through a stern backbone of mid-tempo death metal, Cerekloth are able to stand head and shoulders over most bands in the revival death-doom metal scene.
3.3/5
