CENTENARY “Death: The Final Frontier”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The chainsaw is practically a sacred object in death metal circles, worshiped like an icon. Detroit goon squad CENTENARY are up front in acknowledging this and call their brand of Swedish-influenced death “Detroit Chainsaw Metal”. And so it is. “Death: The Final Frontier” starts off with what sounds like a Stihl being revved up and never looks back from there.
This is simple, basic death metal built on morbid, grooving riffs delivered with the patented “HM-2” chainsaw guitar sound. In fact, CENTENARY are better at it than some actual Swedish bands I could name (but won’t, because I’m such a solid citizen). Sure, their sound is sometimes a bit too “familiar” but when tracks like “Liquefied Rot”, “The Laughing Death” and “Facial Dislocation” hit their groove, your body will be possessed by uncontrollable muscle spasms resembling an epileptic fit. Most of the material is short and sweet, but “Ceaseless Astral Dirge” and “Slaves To the Grave” have more of an oozing, doomy feel that lasts a bit longer.
These guys also know how to toss in some MORTICIAN-style samples. Most of the tracks are inspired by horror films and its fun to try and figure out where the samples came from. “Strangled By the Night” has a long Kolchak/Vincenzo dialogue from “The Night Strangler” that tickled me pink, as Kolchak is my all-time fave fictional character. See if you can spot where the others came from…
Nothing very complex or demanding about what CENTENARY does here, but if you love death metal that sounds like its played with chainsaws instead of guitars, you’ll die for this. Literally.