ALBUM REVIEW: Caverns Of Perdition – Reckless Manslaughter

Continuing the storm of death metal that has been crashing out of Germany in 2019, RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER have returned, a full six years after their last LP – Blast Into Oblivion. The quintet are back swinging with a new record courtesy of German death metal merchants FDA Records, but does their third full-length stand alongside the titanic German death metal records already released this year, or does Caverns Of Perdition fail to match its peers?

Continuing the trend RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER started with their second record, Blast Into Oblivion, Caverns Of Perdition opens with a song named for its predecessor – and this opening song lives up to its name. Blast Into Oblivion, right from the offset, delivers a foray into the glory of early ’90s death metal, with all the groove, brutality and rawness that the scene is beloved for. Here, RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER set expectations for the record – Caverns Of Perdition has no intention of being a groundbreaking, genre pushing offering; this is old-school death metal worship, and proud of it.

And this is the main issue with Caverns Of Perdition. There is nothing especially bad about the album – the production is perfect, polished enough to be a joy to listen to, raw enough to capture that ’90s atmosphere; the vocals are strong, if perhaps a touch monotonous, throughout; the riff work pays excellent homage to the likes of DISMEMBER and OBITUARY – but there is nothing especially remarkable about the album either. Blast Into Oblivion and the following Unleash The Spirits Of The Fallen start the album in a wonderful fashion, proving to be two of the record’s strongest moments, but as the album progresses there is little variation. Vaporized Crucifix sees a return to the quality of the opening duo after the largely forgettable Operation Chastise, while Into Unknown Caverns proves to be a frustrating waste of potential. Showcasing perhaps the most interesting song-writing on the album, the instrumental track highlights the promise RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER have, but the lack of vocals leave the track falling flat.

RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER return to form once again with the furious Catacombs Of Perpetual Damnation, but once again the following track, Stiffshifter, is a forgettable follow up. Decay In Embryo shows a lot of strength, not quite striking the same magic as Unleash The Spirits Of The Fallen or Vaporized Crucifix, but forces it’s way into Caverns Of Perdition‘s highlight reel none the less. Funeralmaster, much like Into Unknown Caverns, proves to be frustrating. The finale, which is just shy of 11-minutes, once again sees RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER flirt with their own brand of creativity rather than being overly literal in their old-school death metal worship, but their is too much repetition and not enough of the sonic ferocity that made the best bits of the album so good. Funeralmaster opens with a dirge-like, death/doom passage that promises progression, and, unfortunately, never delivers.

Caverns Of Perdition is a frustrating release. While three quarters of the album sees RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER set themselves as one of the names to watch in the ever-flowing German death metal scene, wasted potential and forgettable moments drag the on-the-whole pretty solid release down. The riffs are brutal, the atmosphere suitably retro, and the release is dripping with promise and potential – but RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER fail to capitalise on that potential. Further, the strength of the death metal scene may prove to be RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER‘s biggest stumbling block – almost everything on Caverns Of Perdition is at least good, but countless others in the scene do it better. That said, for died-in-the-wool death metal acolytes, there’s a lot to enjoy here, and certainly worse ways to spend three quarters of an hour. Solid, but sadly unremarkable.

Rating: 7/10

Caverns Of Perdition is out now via FDA Records. 

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