Spanish foursome Undead unleash a skilful, satisfying slice of death metal with the sick, slick, and sprightly Putrefactio (Redefining Darkness Records). It’s far from rotten.

This is viscous and visceral music, served up with no little venom, suitably pell-mell and helter-skelter, driven on relentlessly by Matt de Vallejo’s all-guns-blazing drum attack. But while there is a thrashy speed to most of it there is also a recurring, groove-y excellence that helps keep things grounded, or at least as grounded as this kind of utterly mad stuff can ever be.

These Iberian incantors showcase some subtlety and a welcome variety to their sound – ‘Intermediate State Of Reality’ seems to have a crazy, galloping Spaghetti Western vibe, while the refreshingly old school ‘Serpent’s Gift’ includes a riff-tastic, Maiden-esque tempo change, embellished, nay, filigreed, by J. Surt’s quality work on bass. 

‘Discordia’ is maybe the maddest, baddest of the lot, with some nicely unhinged lead guitar and more superior riffage. ‘Last Dark Age’ has V. Repulse’s growling vocals perhaps at their best, strong and stark amid the cacophonous rhythmic maelstrom (Repulse also delivers on guitar, along with mad axeman A. Von Hell).

Listen to ‘Zugzwang’ and you’ll be forced to make a move, hear ‘Demon Of A Thousand Lies’ and you’ll be up on your feet, shuffling, headbanging, grinning, sucked in by the ebb and flow of it, the blow by blow of it, the rare beef, hold the slaw of it. The quality stays consistently high until the closing one-two of ‘Mortificatio’ – a toll-of-the-bell, instrumental intro, really – and the excellent, trademark title track, which sounds like a ghoulish army trudging uphill through the mud towards an uncertain fate, but in a good way. 

Undead can mean zombies, flesh-eaters, vampires, other blood-suckers, all or any of the above, and more, but whatever your favourite horror trope, Undead offer a suitable soundtrack to your worst/best fears and nightmares. The band’s playing chops and commitment cannot be questioned on what is, all in all, a thoroughly worthwhile outing, their second full-length album (after 2019’s Existential Horror). Ten tracks in thirty-five minutes, over and out. Undead live on!

If this is your bag, the past and current Spanish death metal scene is worth checking out, with bands like Avulsed and the more obviously blackened Noctem.

Buy the album here:

https://undead-us.bandcamp.com/album/putrefactio

7 / 10

CALLUM REID