Review Summary: Barren Clod… Heading To The Underworld.
Not much is known about the Hungarian death-doom formation, other than they released an excellent quality demo two years ago, plus the duo’s earlier works in different bands like Mörbid Carnage, Tyrant Goatgaldrakona and so on. Everything was set for a good time, and believe me: they did not disappoint.
Stylistically, Rothadás blends the classic crushing old-school death metal (like Grave’s
Into The Grave from ‘91), with menacing and crypt-smelling doom (ever heard Evoken’s
Antithesis of Light from 2005?). That means, sometimes they go
really slow: momentarily stepping into even funeral doom territories - see in the song “Kripta”, for example. What you can hear in
Kopár hant... az alvilág felé shows resemblances to Spectral Voice’s style in spacey atmospheric death-doom, while they maintain a really sharp sound in the good-old Entombed way. This carefully balanced sound is unarguably one of the biggest strengths of the album. This way, they could ideally combine the ghastly aura with really grinding and heavy riffage. However it’s not an easy task as it may seem. For example, Spectral Voice’s latest fell into the mistake when they covered (and diminished) everything with an unnecessarily thick reverb, ruining the mix. The album’s other strength comes from the well-timed switches between the energetic death and the slow doom sections (the transition is especially smooth in the song “Temető”), giving more dynamics to the whole creation. Moreover, all tracks contain the finest riffs (not to mention that thick bass tone), and excellent vocal performance. On the negative side, the only thing I could say is the album could have been a bit longer in my opinion - and that’s quite a rare complainment.
Rothadás’ first LP salutes to the old-school ways and offers 40 minutes of pure death-doom delight. If you like bands like Spectral Voice, Gatecreeper or Blood Incantation, chances are you’ll enjoy this album as well.
