Cruciamentum - Charnel Passages (2015)

Charnel Passages from the UK death metal band Cruciamentum is an album that I should have paid more attention to last year, I knew them because their demo and first EP brought them deserved recognition in the underground DM scene, but for reasons that I don't really understand I wasn't at first very impressed by their first album. I was a fool because it is indeed very good, and it's for good reason that it was praised. Don't follow the hype too much, but sometimes "the hype" (well, we're talking about death-metal...) is right... That been said, what about the music? Excellent death-metal in an old school vein, not Swedish, but not completely American, although it sometimes reminds Morbid Angel with the heaviness, the grooves and the atmospheres coming nicely together. Dark and crushing at the same time with some first class songwriting skills displayed, so you memorize the songs easily even if it's not less complex than any other death metal. Highly recommended if you're into death-metal.

The Bandcamp page.