HeavyHardMetalmania: Zombiefication - Reaper's Consecration Review

As soon as I heard the first notes of Zombiefications Ep “Reaper's Consecration”, my first thought was ”wow they can not have used a guitar amp to get that sound, they must have plugged the guitar straight in to a chainsaw” Because the guitar sound is amazing, for this kind of music it is perfect.

My second thought was, “ah this is Swedish”. But boy was I wrong, I was off by at least a meter of snow and ice.

These guys are from Mexico, but they carry the old school Swedish sound very well. To my ears they sound like a mix of Dismember and Necrophobic, and since those two bands, at least in my humble opinion are something of the best that Sweden has produced, I say this as a great compliment. For sure these guys are not doing anything new or innovative, at all actually.

If you are a fan of the above mentioned bands you know what to expect, if you are not that well traveled in the woods of Swedish cemetery sludge. What is presented here is lots of tremolo picking, power chords, glorious distortion, /mid paced to fast-ish tempos. Keep in mind thou that his is in no way a blastbeat-fest, it is old, rotten and very nice actually.

The Ep starts of with Dead today, Dust tomorrow. First we have a melancholic melody that sets a nice mode and then like a punch to the face we are thrown into a frenzy of monster guitar riffs and pounding drums. Death rides is up tempo number that starts of in a brisk pace and doesn't let up until around the one minute mark where we are treated to a head banger friendly beat and then we are thrown back in the saddle again for another pounding death ride. The bass break is a nice change of pace!

Necrohell contains some really nice and heavy riffs, some parts have an almost punk-ish attitude to them. They really makes me want to smash something.

We stand alone the beginning of this sand is a bit of a change since it's a bit more melodic, nice to get a bit of a breather. Suer we are not talking about doom here but still. This song also has reoccurring clean part which I appreciate a lot.

The closer I am the reaper is a really killer track, fast and to the point and as with all the songs on this Ep filled with some killer tremolo picked melodies. And the rock n roll ending is killer.

Kudos to the lead guitar player, nice work my friend.

I think you will be blown away by the quality of it all, you get five killer tracks that really deserve your attention.

Everything is written and played extremely well, the vocals are haunting with awesome growls and the more old school shouts, if you get my drift. And the sound is excellent, for me this ep has an perfect sound. It doesn't sound like it was recorded in a bathtub like many of the old school retro bands and it is not over polished, it is just right. Reaper's Consecration was mixed and mastered at Necromorbus Studio so what ells is to be expected. I must say I enjoy the sound of the kick drum, not to clicky but precise. As I stated before I enjoy the overall sound, but since the kick is in front of the sound landscape I thought I would mention it. One more thing I enjoy with this ep is the felling that it is actually played by human beings , it is not polished to the point of sounding robotic. You can hear some small inconsistencies in the playing here and there. And at least for me that is a big plus, since I'm not a fan of when things as I previously stated, to robotic, I want the felling of hearing a human being playing the instruments. And that these things where not polished away in the mix I think is a very good thing and gives me more respect for the band.

Most of the songs clocks in at around the five minute mark, except for the last song “I am the reaper” which is six minutes long and features both a nice little bass break and a cool guitar solo.

Every now and then the band changes things up and adds something different, for example the fifth song “We stand alone” ends with a nice clean guitar playing a somber melody and is a perfect set up for the thunderous beginning of the final song.

The cover art also evokes the demons of old, just laying and eye on should tell you what kind of ride you are in for. I must say I think it is very nice, I have always been a fan of the painted cover arts and I think this one is a very nice one.

I have not been able to find the lyrics any were but judging from the titles of the songs: Dead Today, Dust Tomorrow(killer title), Deathrides, Necrohell, I Am the Reaper and We Stand Alone. I would assume they are dealing with the usual suspects, death, doom and destruction.

So to summarize, Zombiefication has released a monster of an Ep in Reaper's Consecration. If you are a fan of Swedish old school death metal this Ep will most definitively be something you want to check out. I know I will be listening to this for a long time to come!