Masachist – Scorned
Polish export Masachist released second album Scorn last year, a collection of down-tuned, double-bass syncopated riffery that has no lacking of churning, mostly mid-tempo death metal sure to please fans of the style. The sound relays ‘Where the Slime Lives’-moment Morbid Angel (albeit with more palm-mutes, less Hell) and dissonant chord-slides of Hate Eternal, with blasts a plenty and atonal shifts riding along the go-stop-go composition. Credit must be given to Masachist for implementing appropriately spooky keyboards to sections here and there amidst the spatter, keeping the bloodletting of the cover artwork and insert front and center of the mind’s eye throughout Scorned‘s nine intestinal-stab tracks. Oddly enough, it is this synthwork and Pig’s vocals that generate the most interest for me, with growler Pig’s bark being pleasingly reminiscent of good ol’ George Corpsegrinder Fisher, with a bit of Erik Rutan thrown in. Still, the band works hard to develop their own musical voice, with tracks such as ‘Manifesto’ (100% D.M.K.M.) containing a nice eerie staccato-picked riff over the blasting, diverging nicely with the song’s preceding structure of ascending octave chording. ‘Opposing Normality’ and ‘Liberation’ reverently recalls the slithery guitar lines of Covenant-era Trey Azagthoh and mid-00’s Nergal, and if either (or both) bands have you left you wanting with their most recent releases, you might apply these tracks as replacement wounds for your …Insanus scars.
All in all, Scorned remains a solid offering of an album of the cleaner side of the DM genre, and is yet another reminder of Poland’s legacy of being a Metal exporter of all shapes and colors. Myself, I’ll stick to DM’s filthier sounds and the older albums of Masachist’s influences when feeling the need for this strain of heavy, but if you seek percussive DM from across the pond, you should give these Poles a play. -Jim
Selfmadegod Records
Worm Gear 
Yum, very tasty. Reminds me of fellow Poledeath gang Gortal. Also very tasty.