STRYCHNIA “Into The Catacombs”

Self Released, 2018

Music: Deathcore

Website: https://m.facebook.com/Strychnia/

Duration:  26:43 minutes (8 tracks)

Country: U.S.A

It was the late 90s and early 2000s when bands began exploring the boundaries of Death Metal. Death Metal then, was as popular as it could get at that point. With a lot of sub-genres and bands opting to play this style in a fresh manner, Death Metal got a huge response from people. While they were trying to experiment further, Deathcore a Death metal fusion genre quickly got accepted by the people and the demand for such bands was enough for the newer bands to opt this style.

Being a Death Metal offshoot Deathcore is equally, the most controversial and popular genre. The genre itself has evolved a lot as the genre has its subgenres for its own. One among the new Deathcore bands that I came across is the American Deathcore band, Strychnia. Having spent the past year recording an album, Strychnia released their latest effort entitled Into The Catacombs, this year. Playing the style in a much more technical manner, the album was good and was better than what I expected at first.

The instant hype for the album came when the band released a single featuring the Thy Art Is Murder vocalist, CJ McMahon. Having nailed that song, the rest of the track is solid as well with most of the tracks inclined to the brutal side of Deathcore. Kevin is a good find as his vocals trace the technical niche of Deathcore well and so was the insane instrumentation framework. Their songs try to sound fresh and as far as I’m concerned, they are the only band that tries to move away from the stereotypical Deathcore sound.

Overall, Into The Catacombs is a fresh effort made by these talented musicians. The album surely lived up to the hype and the album itself is undoubtedly slamming. The only “issue” is that the tracks sound a bit off in some songs as the drums sound muddy and buried under the mix. Yet, the album does sound great for the majority of time. I cant wait to find out how Strychnia are gonna evolve in future. Hopefully they get signed to a record label soon.

Tracklist:

1. Into The Catacombs
2. Within The Catacombs
3. Volcanic Winter (featuring CJ McMahon)
4. Deprivating Senses
5. Blood of the Damned
6. Curb-Stomped
7. Hellfire Ramparts
8. Plague Pit

Line-up:

Kevin O’Laughlin – Vocals
Rory Smith Robinson – Guitar
Tony Barhoum – Guitar

Rate: 8.5/10