Maim
Deceased to exist
Soulseller Records
This isn't really doing it for me like it should. I love my old-school Swedish death metal and I'm as much into the resurgence of the style as anyone but, let's face it, the genre is a hell of a lot more populated now than it ever was back in the day. With that in mind, bands really need to up their game in order to genuinely recreate the vibe once reserved for the genre gods of the late '80s and early '90s. There's something about the production on "Deceased to exist" that fails to hit the mark and, to these ears, it's the fact that there's no real punch behind the sound. Bands that sounded like this back in the day generally did so through lack of resources when recording a demo and, given the genre in which Maim reside, it's quite possible that they're deliberately recreating this dirty, relatively weak sonority in an attempt to sound grim and nekro. Musically, it's nothing to get excited about and, as much as I love the style, I can't see Maim getting too much airplay in Chez Norby.
- John Norby
