MALIGNANT ALTAR "Realms of Exquisite Morbidity"

By Dr. Abner Mality

Another day brings us another death metal album. This band is called MALIGNANT ALTAR, not to be confused with CHARNEL ALTAR, which I heard last week. I expect next week will probably bring one called MORBID ALTAR. Or possibly just MALIGNANCE...

You see where this is going. As much as I love really gross underground death metal, I'm about at my limit. It's probably not fair to take it out on MALIGNANT ALTAR, who seem to be very earnest about what they are doing. But there are many, MANY earnest death metal bands these days and they are increasingly hard to tell apart. Here, even the album title and song titles have a strong feeling of deja vu. Now these guys are out to be as repulsive as they can be and they have all the hallmarks of a band devoted to the ways of death. They also are not just a bald faced knockoff of INCANTATION or OBITUARY, as so many of these bands are. So there's that. But still, there's just so damn much of this out there now and I'm sure more is on the way.

For lovers of icky, old school death, I can recommend this. But I'm really on the hunt for a band that can mix it up just a little bit. If that's not too much to ask...

DARK DESCENT RECORDS

MALIGNANT ALTAR