Duskwalker – Underground Forever
Release Date: 26th July 2024
Label: Black Lion Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Thrash Metal, Traditional Metal, Groove Metal.
FFO: Kataklysm, Carcass, Jungle Rot, Power Trip, Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated, Hypocrisy.
Review By: Rick Farley
Canada’s four piece death crew Duskwalker formed in 2015, is a full on sonic assault of blistering riffs, extreme vocals, hammering drums and groove filled, thrashy death metal all wrapped up in a neat little package that is stylistically familiar, but also chock-full of piss and venom. After releasing their debut Codex Mystirium in 2016 and its follow up All they Know is Fear in 2019, the band continued to gain traction as an underground force to keep an eye on. Now 2024 brings us their most hard hitting, anthemic death metal album Underground Forever, injected with face melting solos, crunchy thrash metal and no fucks given attitude, releasing on Black Lion Records July 26th, 2024.
There is absolutely no doubt that this album will blow your head clean off with its aggressiveness and destructive riffs. It is ultra heavy, fast, and extremely rambunctious. This is the type of record that cuts itself loose, swings hard, and couldn’t care less about what is in front of it. A bastardized cross between Carcass/thrash/hardcore/punk/Pantera/Amon Amarth/Kataklysm and Cannibal Corpse. It is a turbocharged blending that mostly works but falls short, occasionally, sounding too much like the bands mentioned. It feels like the record has a bit of an identity crisis.
This truly is a tough one for me, because the songs on Underground Forever fucking jam hard and is everything outrageously fun you want in a metal record. My personal problem is that I have heard parts of every single song somewhere else. Whether it is the Bill Steer guitar riffs that are just too dead on for me, or the vocals sounding like a different vocalist within the same song. One minute it has a Carcass grind going then it switches to a Pantera-ish groove, then the next song is a punk style, hardcore anthem and the next is straight thrash. I could not get myself fully invested when I wasn’t sure if it’s even the same band still playing on track one, four and five. There is a ton of familiar ideas kind of just thrown at your face whether you are ready or not. I suppose that’s probably part of the fun.
With that said though, honestly this record fucking goes hard, really fucking hard, and I guarantee that a ton of people will not give two shits about this review and my piddly criticism. If you want balls to the wall fucking metal that hits like a metallic hammer, then this is for you.
So where do we go from here? Well, I tell you again that groovy guitar squawks, shreddy solos, fat crunchy riffs and nasty growls all make for quite a headbanging session. Unrelenting thrashy speed, gross rhythmic hooks and a penchant for excess really do make for a damn fun time. Underground Forever is a record that I enjoy but may not reach for very often unless a certain mood strikes, however Duskwalker is clearly talented and write the kind of metal that many will think is insanely awesome. This is one to definitely check out for yourself.
(3.5 / 5)
Really looking forward to this album. They never cease to disappoint each of them they have definitely progressed and gotten more tighter and more heavier