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Centinex – Desolated Past [Compilation]

centinex – desolated past [compilation]

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Centinex has never been a band that made it big in the Swedish Death Metal scene. Instead they always kind of got stuck behind the biggest bands or even the ones that followed, making them basically a third rank sort of band. Especially in more recent years the band are putting out one middle of the road Death Metal album after another. But, remarkable enough, in their very early years they were able to put out some very solid demo tapes. This compilation tape brings together some of the band’s early recordings.

The tape starts with the ‘End Of Life’ demo tape from 1993, followed up by the ‘Under The Blackened Sky’ demo tape and closed with ‘Transcend The Dark Chaos’ cassette tape EP. This means the very first demo tape, ‘Stupid Humanity’, was omitted on this compilation, most likely because that demo was really wacky and the band felt embarrassed by it. Yet, these early recordings displays Centinex at their peak, sporting that trademark Swedish Death Metal sound and making them sound not all too far away from Dismember. Of course, the level of ingenuity of Dismember is not reached on any of the tracks on this tape, but it has the same sort of buzz-sawing sound as on ‘Like An Everflowing Stream’. The most remarkable on these first recordings are the great vocals. Having heard the band’s latest output, the ‘The Pestilence’ EP (2022, Agonia Records), with its hideous vocal delivery courtesy of Henrik Andersson, this is a complete relief. The last tracks, from the ‘Transcend The Dark Chaos’ are from 1994 and were originally released after the band’s debut album ‘Subconscious Lobotomy’ (do yourself a favour and look up the ‘art’work for its original release), and shows Centinex at their very best. These EP tracks have such great energy and downright powerful vocals, simply of a level they were never able to reach again – from here it all basically went downhill.

Sometimes it puzzles you that bands did not get the attention they clearly deserved and sometimes it all just makes sense – such as in this case. But, if you dig deep enough you will find out that Centinex had something going in their earliest stages. The title of this cassette, ‘Desolated Past’, does not only symbolize the band’s story, it is also a good compilation of basically all the bands tracks that are worth listening to (besides the ‘Subconscious Lobotomy’ album). But, to be honest, I do feel that ‘Stupid Humanity’ still had to be included as well. There is no reason to feel awkward about your first steps into the world of learning your instruments, recording and extreme metal as a whole. In fact, the quality of the latest Centinex recordings are more to be ashamed of than those youthful demos…

Diabolical Summoning Records

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