Malgöth – Glory Through Savagery

Malgöth

Glory Through Savagery

by Alex Barnard at 04 November 2021, 12:14 AM

Savagery” is the group’s debut album, released by Iron Bonehead Productions on October 1, 2021.

Well, this would be a really, really amazing album if the production were better. Everything seems overly compressed, and I know that’s not saying a lot given the trend in recent decades in music production to master everything super loud. However, you can tell when a track is overly compressed when the hi-hats are just as loud as the kick and snare, at times drowning them out. Such is the case with the drums on this album. Aside from that, the guitars sound way too thin and at times are indiscernible, the bass sounds muddy, and I have no idea what the vocalists are even saying but I can tell you they’re doing it in a pretty brutal fashion. I think the biggest travesty of all here, though, is that, again, the guitars don’t sound full enough because in the moments when I can hear the riffs, they’re really good! It’s a shame that those riffs were put to waste with such terrible production.

I think one of the clearest examples of this awful production is on the track “Immortal Torment.” At around the 50 second mark, the guitars start playing a low, chuggy riff that, combined with the distant sounds of the drums and the vocalists, just sounds like a bunch of noise. I could not tell you what notes are being played there, and I have perfect pitch!

Some of the better moments on this album include “Throne of Infinite Power,” which, after a lengthy intro, sounds like the stuff of literal nightmares; “Clubbed into Pulp,” which is a real lesson in brutality; “Spiritual Contamination,” which starts off with a nasty beat down riff that makes you want to stomp out the maggots that stand in your way; and “The Eternal Age of Iron,” which is just a hellish monstrosity of a track.

Unfortunately, all of those better moments do not add up to one excellent album. It takes a lot of charm to release an album that has terrible production yet still sounds good, and MALGÖTH just do not have that charm. I think there’s potential here, though, and would like to see this group redeem themselves on their future releases.

Production: 2
Songwriting: 6
Memorability: 4
Musicianship: 5