Pitchblack - Death & Disbelief

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Today is not so difficult to hear bands that are mixing genres. It can be said as a consequence of the new generations that assimilated influences that older ones couldn’t, or maybe a search for a personal form of playing, or maybe both ideas. This is what “Death & Disbelief”, the third and latest album from Danish quartet PITCHBLACK (after a hiatus of 8 years without releases), shows clearly.

Their music is a form of Melodic Death Metal (but that carries some traces from early Swedish Death Metal) that gathers influences from Groove Metal and even some traces from modern Metal genres (something from Metalcore and modern Hardcore can be heard on some harmonies). It’s not so unusual, but the way they play is not focusing on one simple feature, but on all of them ate the same time. So be prepared for a massive and fresh flow of energy, but with brutality and hooking parts.

The sound quality of “Death & Disbelief” was built to be like a Death Metal sonority (in other words, crude and brutal), but allowing the different elements of their music to be heard as well. And all sounds clean and defined, in a way that everyone can understand what is being musically expressed.

The brutal mix of Melodic Death Metal elements with Groove/Thrash Metal arrangements shown on “The World is Mine” (very good guitar riffs, indeed), the modern and bitter ones “Erase My Race” and “El Dictador” (very good bass guitar and drums parts on both songs), the massive weight of “I Live in a Grave” (very good vocals, in a mean point between guttural voices and normal snarls), the catchy tempos of “Deathbed Lullabye”, and the deeper and bitter feeling of “The Way It Ends” are the best moments of the album.

PITCHBLACK is back to the front, so be prepared to have your bones crushed by “Death & Disbelief”.

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