Downlord – Random Dictionary of the Damned
Aside from an abysmally terrible, triggered drum sound and overall bizarre/lopsided production, the songs on “Random Dictionary of the Damned” are a 100% improvement over the teched out, go nowhere material found on both demos released on 1 CD slammed elsewhere in the Worm’s digital lair. Downlord must have sat down and gave their older songs some serious scrutiny, for the intricacies are still very much a part of this bands riffing style, but the songs themselves are overall much more simplistic in structure, giving the riffs room to breath and even produce a hook or 2. Dave Ingram sounds like a good fit on this album, maintaining his trademark Benediction death howls and sounding completely like himself and completely unique for the death grind genre. His words are discernable and his straight forward delivery feels like the foundation this band can build off from in any direction, knowing that whatever they come up with, will already be something standing just outside the current flavor of the month in the extreme metal realm, simply because they possess a vocalist with a time tested style. Hearing him at the helm of this band teleports my thoughts back to the glory of death metal/grinds heyday and this feeling transcends, successfully giving Downlord an appealing old school presence. Some interesting riff ideas give birth to even more atypical harmonies and even some unexpected music breaks/time signatures that all work together to give “Random Dictionary of the Damned” a much deserved sense of excitement. In fact, the more I’ve spun this album, the more I notice clever/impressive guitar work that subtly writhes within this bassy/DIY sounding production. I will admit that Downlord are a style of band that I don’t listen to as much anymore, unless of course it’s a classic album from this genre’s early days, but they have adopted enough of the old spirit, where I can easily connect with their sound/ideas and even feel the desire to keep spinning this album long after this review is completed. Good stuff… In fact, this has been the 1st Open Grave CD that has made me raise and eyebrow. Let’s hope there’s even more exciting music on the horizon for both camps. – Marty
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