After many years of listening to black metal exclusively, I have made a shift in recent years towards a more death style of metal. Still being a firm lover of the black genre, death is winning a lot of ground. It just needs to be harsh, brutal and give a feeling of primal awakening. Today I came across a one-man project called Malignant Providence, death metal with some old school sounds, but surprising twists in between the violence.
The man behind this band is Andrei Crisan, and he proves Romania can deliver death metal how it should be played. Loud, harsh, like a light that shines from a cave that only knows despair. He is trying to drag you into his abyss, with howlings we are already accustomed to, but the twist he adds really is making me grab a backpack and wanting to march towards Romania.
Being released on the 25th of December, this is a welcome gift under the tree. The EP …From the palms of divine existence starts with the track Spectral destroyer. After a minute of ambient noise the hell unleashes. An old school death metal riff kicks off with a mid-tempo blast. The vocals are drenched in reverb, together sounding like a machine crushing the eardrums.
What you hear is what you get, at least, in the first track. The second track of this EP, Unending sight brings some clean tones towards the end. It fits the flow of the track very nicely, and really adds to the overall soundscape. The third track goes a step further, From the psalms of divine existence even has some keys added at a point, while retaining the raw brutality old school death has to offer. This caught me off-guard, but I really like it!
The mix is great for this type of music, every instrument sounds heavy, the vocals have a lot of depth and darkness. The riffs are diverse and very playful at times. This needs to get a physical release!
The last track is an Asphyx cover, I am not a big fan of covers by bands on records. This is also the first time it became clear to me a drumcomputer was used. I respect the worship, but keep focussing on your own music (it is MUCH better in my opinion). The feeling is there, the sound you nailed, I wanted to start a mosh in my office right away.
For what it is worth, I am networking for you to bring this music to more ears! If this is step one, I can not wait to hear step two. This reminds me of my friends from Funeral Whore, the same vibe, a bit more diverse, but the same brutality. This deserves a physical release!
87/100