Martyred – The Relegation
Release Date: 20th October 2022
Label: Time to Kill Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Immolation, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh.
Review By: Rick Farley
Austin, Texas is not the first place I think of when underground death metal is about to be the subject. Sure, Austin has an eclectic music scene, but death metal? Turns out I’m extremely uninformed, not only is the scene alive and well, but several notable underground DM bands have come from the area. The Lone Star state’s very own Martyred happens to be one of the best. Originally formed in 2003 by guitarist Mike Debord, the band took a hiatus in 2010 and then reformed again in 2017. To date the band have released a few E.P.’s including 2018’s brutal Dawn of Terror and are about to unleash their debut album The Relegation on Time to Kill Records. Let’s dig in, shall we.
Firstly, I need to say you’re not going to find anything ground-breaking on The Relegation, and honestly that’s one of its strengths. Sometimes you only need a spark or soundtrack to just bulldoze everything in sight. That’s exactly what this is and does. This has the spirit of old school death metal but presented in a newer, more polished shell. It’s not exactly tech-death, but it has some serious tight musicianship with advanced song structures. Brutal hook-oriented songs mixed with complex riffs that go from razor sharp to blackened thrash. Abstract time signatures, blast beats and unrelenting aggression create a highly addictive head banging filled fun time. This is a heavy modern pummelling with an old school ethos, the equivalent of a raging OSDM beast with robotic limbs about to punch your guts in. No subtlety here whatsoever. The Relegation is truckloads of crunchy riffs, gnarly solo’s, crushing groove and growls from hell. Everything you look for in great death metal is ever present, and it’s ridiculously engaging.
Blackened and crunchy thrashiness drives Sadist Globe towards high-pitched screams and brutal lows. Its chugging riffs keeps a fast pace but changes up the mood of the song from headbanging to relentless battering and back again. Iniquitous Transformation’s guitars squeal and squawk itself into a Morbid Angel inspired groove before furiously blasting into a frenzy of gut shredding solo’s. The double bass, monster riff groove of Relegation bounces along until it breaks into blackened nastiness. Tremolo picked frosty notes swarming into several time signature changes, full of insane fills and jagged hooks. Absolutely zero filler, every track primed for pit violence and serious neck trauma.
Production wise, this album is clean sounding. It has tremendous bite, sounding exceptionally sharp and attacking. The guitar sound is a little high gain trebly, but still immensely powerful with a warm low end. The drums are crisp, and vocals come through fiercely. It’s not overly polished, but it all gels together with good clarity on each element. It was produced by the band themselves and mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga at Trident Recording Studio. This is music made for live settings, and the production captures that intensity.
Sitting at a runtime of only thirty-one minutes, The Relegation gets its point across quickly and efficiently. Personally, I think anything less than thirty-eight minutes brings the value of spending hard-earned cash down, but Martyred does a hell of a bang-up job of bashing in your brains in that brief period of time, so it will be forgiven. As it stands, this is just really good fucking death metal that should find a huge fanbase. Put this on your radar immediately.
(4 / 5)
