Demoniciduth/Sabbatariam - Split CD

Independent

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Well, it seems like it's been an eternity, but Demoniciduth has finally finished and released their new offering, Dogs of Antichrist.  And this time they have chosen to release it as a split CD with the Brazilian death metal band Sabbatariam.  I was a little harsh on my review of Demoniciduth's last EP, but I did mention there that I thought the band did have some promise so I wouldn't give up on them yet.  Well, the band is definitely no Antestor or Crimson Moonlight, but the promise is starting to show forth a little more on this release.  The band seems to have more confidence in their playing and it shows with a more aggressive, more black metal leaning sound.  The production still holds the band back though as the guitars still have a somewhat thin sound and the drums still like to sound like trash can lids at times.  But like the last EP, all of the instruments are clearly heard, including the rumbling bass.  The band has darkened up their sound a little bit here too.  It could be better, but it's an improvement over their last EP.  Vocally, Taanak and Hazael both continue to do a good job of black metal screams and death growls.  While this band will still get the underground tag and probably won't run circles around most bands in this genre, the quality has been upped a notch or two and it confirms my earlier thought that the band could do more than what their last EP showed.  And another big plus is the fact that they gave up using that horrible looking corpse paint they were using.  This band is still very young, as is evident by their band photo, but they have shown that they are not going to curl up and die after all of criticism with their last album.
 
Next up is the Brazilian death metal band, Sabbartariam.  This band doesn't really bring too much new to the table in the genre, but they do have a solid sound will remind people of a mix between Crimson Thorn, Encryptor, early Metanoia, and maybe a little Mortification.  Production does hold the band back a bit as the sound here is pretty sub-par, but they keep your interest with a brutally heavy and intense offering.  Vocalist, Daniel Corpse does decent job thoughout with some ultra low growls.  Oh yeah, and the song "Holy Bible"...that opening part of the song is a dead rip-off of Seventh Angel from the Lament for the Weary album.  At first I thought they were doing a cover and had to check the CD booklet to find out that wasn't the case. 
 
All in all, this is a decent underground release that is just that...underground.    Each band includes 7 songs and the total running time is just under 60 minutes.  Lyrically each band is very bold about their faith in Christ and packaging is also pretty nicely done for an indie.  I still do hate that dorky advisory label that Demoniciduth uses on their side of the album cover though, so I also put the Sabbatariam cover forward.  Anyways...you should be able to find this at places like blastbeats.com.  (Review by Matt)

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