PLAGUEMACE
PLAGUEMACE "Reptilian Warlords"
By Dr. Abner Mality
In case you just woke up after being asleep for 10 years, death metal is a big deal again. Really. We are in the second great age of the gnarly subgenre and it is arguably producing more material than the first wave in the early 90's. With this windfall, though, there are obviously good bands....and just as obviously bands that are bandwagon jumpers and also-rans.
PLAGUEMACE is part of this second wave. Where do they fall on the spectrum of worthless to godlike? Well, it's somewhere in the middle part....the lower middle part. This bunch hails from Denmark, which is surprising, because they don't sound European at all, but more on the lines of a SANGUISUGABOGG or 200 STAB WOUNDS. Yup, pretty average all the way.
I can't say "Reptilian Warlords" is a really bad or boring disk. There's some good heaving chug and simple riffing to get the juices flowing...kind of like CIANIDE meeting SIX FEET UNDER. The vocals are real caveman stuff....more "gruff" than "guttural", but boy, are they gruff. Despite the basic competency of PLAGUEMACE, nothing really stands out that much. If pushed, I'd say I like "Impenetrable Leather" best with its USURPER-like thrust, but stuff like "Rhythmic Demise" and "Warcries From the Crypt" just don't register as anything but average death metal.
With the new tsunami of death rushing across the land, a tide which will inevitably pull back, you're going to get bands like PLAGUEMACE...just existing.