Although this 3-track EP, or demo if you like, was already made available digitally by the band last year and it also previously received a CD release via Ancient Urn Records, it was also recently picked up by the revered Nuclear Winter Records. A label with a nose for good Old School Death Metal. So now that I see the Nuclear Winter Records logo on this tape, I’m all ears.
Despite this EP having only three songs, it still has a playing time of almost 25 minutes. That immediately gives away something in which corner we can paint Fossilized. The name itself also says something. While certainly not literally fossilised yet, the five-piece does find influences from the old Death Metal scene of the early 90’s. The recipe is pretty simple: generally mid-tempo, dark and heavy. In their take on the Doomy Death Metal scene, we actually recognise a fairly international mix of influences. It has a base of the dark and heavy Incantation, a slightly technical slant reminiscent of oldest Suffocation (albeit not nearly as distinctly virtuosic), the doom and gloom from the Dutch scene (Dissect, for instance) and the blackened atmosphere of the Swedes (old Necrophobic, Crematory and Eternal Darkness). Together, this makes for a very tasty whole that is actually most like the heavily underrated Dutch Antropomorphia. An oppressive atmosphere, riff-heavy and with impressive vocal violence. In the tail end of the last track we get an enchanting acoustic piece which contrasts nicely against the heavy curtain of riffs and provides that little bit extra to stand out among all the hundreds of Death Metal demos of today. Like a true palaeontologist, Nuclear Winter Records has brought up a previously undiscovered species: a warm recommendation.
