Altered Dead – Returned To Life

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ALTERED DEAD are a Canadian duo, formed back in 2013, which makes them still a relatively young band. They released a self-titled single and a demo in 2013 and 2014 respectively, followed by their debut, also self-titled album in 2016. Now, five years later, they offer us “Returned to Life” a n album with a bit over half an hour of pure Death Metal.

“Mental Suicide” is the opening track on this album, the first thing you will notice is that the guitars are on the front row of the whole musical delivery, vocals seem a bit low, but not as much as to be lost within the mix, it actually feels as if they were coming from the grave. Varying between mid-paced but continuous deep-toned riffs and blasting beats this song definitely prepares you for what’s in the rest of the album. Most songs are rather short, so they are easy to enjoy.

“Final Pathogen”, “Rotting Outwards” and “Thrawing in Agony” have riffs and beats that have a sweet grindcore taste. “Prosodemic Remains” is a full pedal to the metal opus with down-tuned string work and powerful drumming, vocals have a nice tone that ranges from deep growling to brutal Death Metal screaming, yet still a bit low for my taste, throughout most of the record.

“Empostomb” starts with a very doomy feeling and the vocals then sound more haunting than when buried under more complex riffs and drumming. If not because of their usual low tone and full Death metal guitar sound, some parts have a strong Black/Death approach in which the vocals sound more fitting.

This is what it is, a modern-day old-school Death Metal album. There is nothing new in this record if you have been into Death Metal since the beginning. This is a simple formula that will keep working over and over again. It has nice, catchy riffing, slow parts and blast beats, deep growls, screaming, nice cover artwork, attitude; everything you need to have a cool Old School Death Metal Record, oh! And a nice cover of “Into the Crypts of Rays” from CELTIC FROST to round it up. So, if you like bands such as INCANTATION, MORBID ANGEL, early THERION or GRAVE, then you’ll surely enjoy this one too.

Songwriting:  8
Musicianship:  8
Memorability:  7
Production:  8