Call me what you will, but I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical when I received the promo for this album in my inbox. A band named Zombiefication with an album entitled Midnight Stench almost immediately screams "we think we're badass and scary, but we really aren't!" Thankfully, I was wrong in this scenario. These guys actually are badass, and Midnight Stench is one hell of a death metal album. Provided that old school death metal is your thing, you don't take it all too seriously, and you want to hear something downright filthy and brutal, Midnight Stench is unquestionably worth tracking down.
Zombiefication plays a style of primitive death/thrash that relies heavily on influence from the early Swedish scene. The heavy, downtuned-chugging riffs just reek of early 90's Swedish death metal. There are even some doomy sections in tracks like "Sleepless Mutter" that hint towards the scene as well. Mexico has a fairly decent-sized death/thrash scene right now, and one could also pick up some smaller influences from that scene as well. The production is also very raw and authentic to the early-90's time frame. The guitars just sound so raw and unpolished! I love it!
Midnight Stench isn't a terribly original album - as a matter of fact, it wouldn't be unreasonable to consider it a clone of the early Swedish death metal scene. But when a "clone" band delivers music of this level of quality, that becomes a bit irrelevant in the big picture. If you're a fan of downright filthy death metal, this is worth further investigation. I'll give Midnight Stench 3.5 stars, but if you don't care about "originality" you can easily tag on an extra half-star. Recommended!
Track Listing:
1. The Shining
2. Cryptic Broadcast
3. Anthem to the Death March
4. Last Resting Place
5. Jacko's Funeral Pyre
6. Sleepless Matter
7. Broken Gravestone
8. Necrolumbatory
9. Hitchcock Screaming in Phobia
10. The Early Years
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