Putrid Evocation – Echoes Of Death

Putrid Evocation

Echoes Of Death

by Andrew Sifari at 29 December 2014, 2:29 PM

Formed in 2011, PUTRID EVOCATION released a string of smaller releases before dropping their debut LP, “Echoes Of Death", this November. The boys from Chile show a strong appreciation for the Death Metal standard-bearers of old.

There’s no real reason to get all cute linguistically when talking about a band like PUTRID EVOCATION, who are about as prototypical of a Death Metal band as you can get, from the band members’ names to the album’s bleak album art and unpleasant song titles. They back it up with a sound that is suitably fierce and malevolent, with elements of Doom and Black Metal thrown in for good measure along with their old-school-styled Death Metal. This leads to some solidly memorable moments on songs like the title track, with it’s creepy outro, and “Vengeance From The Crypts” which combines this with a very Black Metal-style assault. “Morbid Sacrilegious” is another song with some cool classic-inspired moments, with a mid-paced midsection that has something of a SLAYER-meets-MORBID ANGEL feel to it.

One thing I couldn’t really get used to was the tin-can production the album boasts. I know there are plenty of folks out there into the whole “lo-fi” thing as some kind of purist sentiment, but there is a difference between ‘raw’ and just plain murky, and it doesn’t really do much to bolster the rather straightforward nature of the music on “Echoes of Death”. The drums stand out decently enough, and K.’s playing is very solid and engaging, but the low-register vocals are almost completely indecipherable in the mix. What could have been a decent ending to the album, a cover of CONVULSE’s “Putrid Intercourse", is somewhat dampened by a production value that is (somehow) worse than the original.

“Echoes Of Death” is a decent album in the vein of guys like MASSACRE, early-DEATH, and DISMEMBER, but there’s probably not much here for anyone who doesn’t have a huge Death Metal appetite to quench.