ALBUM REVIEW: Death Age – Kommand
California’s KOMMAND, on the surface, share a lot of the same qualities that many bands with an old school death metal sound have; drawing heavily from the genre’s heyday for inspiration, with an incredibly pronounced BOLT THROWER influence in particular, the Los Angeles-based five-piece have been active since the mid-2010s, although it wasn’t until 2020 with the release of their debut album Terrorscape that the band really hit their stride and began gaining wider attention. Their second album, Death Age, initially feels as though it is a continuation of the sound from their debut and demo days, but eventually shows signs of a distinct shift in the band’s sound and style as it progresses.
Final Virus proves to be a strong opening gambit, with huge rhythms, pummelling drums and groove-laden leads giving this a powerful and intense sound right off the bat. It’s a great piece of classic death metal with brilliantly opaque, throaty vocals that starts things off in suitably dark and domineering fashion. Chimera Soldiers doubles down on the muscular hooks and impressive, slick leads, albeit with a few more frenetic moments, contributing to a more aggressive and feral sound than the preceding track and once again possessing the sort of old school style and coarse gutturals that are very evocative of BOLT THROWER at points. Global Death lurches towards a ponderous, bleaker sound, built around imposing riffs and measured drumming, with driven, thunderous passages peppered throughout to inject a sense of urgency into proceedings. It’s a great, slow-burning piece of music that gradually morphs from the crawling pace it begins with to a far more ferocious, belligerent offering.
Polar Holdout adopts the harsher sound and faster tempos of the previous song throughout, making for a more chaotic affair with a fiercer edge to it, with even the vocals seeming more visceral than they did in the album’s first half, and the result is one of the more engaging and effective songs on the album. Fleeing Western Territories again takes on a more cacophonous feel, with the angular guitars, rabid, energetic rhythmic flourishes and a solid, punky quality to some of the less bestial moments all making for a much more imaginative and grating sound overall – a figurative and literal change of pace that works extremely well. Collapse Metropolis takes the evolution of the band’s sound to by far its most bellicose, completing the descent into a more frenzied and bestial sound with what is easily the album’s most savage effort. Adventurous guitars, equally eclectic and noxious rhythms and dense, roaring vocals create a dizzying whirlwind of caustic ferocity, closing this album with an all out aural assault that sounds fantastic.
Like a lot of death metal records with a solid old school influence in their sound, Death Age isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel in any regard, but it instead uses the many strengths of classic death metal to craft an immense, powerful record. It’s definitely the sort of album that gathers momentum as it progresses, shifting from the slower, more BOLT THROWER-inspired approach of the album’s first half towards the far more aggressive and chaotic style of the second, and each has its own merits, although it has to be said that the last three tracks have a more distinct edge to them that the first three don’t really possess. Much like their first album, it’s a punchy and impressive record, but on this album it’s clear that the band are less reliant on their influences to inform their songwriting, and with any luck album number three will see KOMMAND fully realise their musical identity within the more old school leaning corners of the death metal scene.
Rating: 8/10
Death Age is out now via 20 Buck Spin.
Follow KOMMAND on their website.