Artist: Lifeless (Deu)
Title: Beyond the Threshold of Death
Type: Album
Label: Ibex Moon Records

Having been on my radar for while, these old school death metallers brandish all things Dismember (including a cover of ‘Casket Garden’), early-Autopsy, Morbid Angel and classic ‘Left Hand Path’ Entombed, so is it good? You better believe it! This album was originally self-released with different artwork, Ibex Moon have given these Germans the once over in boosting the production and sorting out some minor skirmishes from that debut self release.

Many bands of late try to re-capture that heady time when everything dirty and gritty in death metal was king, Lifeless have no need for overplayed technical bullshit or a thirst for deathcore that in its nature has reached saturation point. Nope, Lifeless keep it simple and to the point. ‘Entombed in Unknown Graves’ follows the formula laid down by this genres forefather(s), powerful, aggressive, and a little gritty, with tormenting heaviness. An authentic drum sound greets the listener, in some places as Daniel L (also of Suffocated Art) goes into hyper drive as heard on ‘Retaliation’ but in general it is slow to mid pace, and brutally heavy. Admittedly I adore this genre and find most bands doing themselves proud. Lifeless do it authentically, I guess otherwise I would not like this so much would I? ‘Under the Sign of the Iron Cross’ reeks a tornado of swirling guttural blast beating coupled with a thirst for the standard kick you in the nuts neck-breaking tirade, simple acoustic flourishes gives the listener a breather, then its back to work. ‘In the End…(of Life)’ shows some melody in the guitar riff opener much like Dismember did recently on both ‘Europa Burns’ and ‘Under a Bloodred Sky’. Machine gun snare blasts remind you to take note and herald a band intent on destroying the opposition with a collection of authentic death metal songs, traditional death metal upstarts, hmm, seasoned professionals in reality.

Lifeless will chew you up and spit you out without any hesitation and in my book this makes this release something special. If it had been released in 1989/1990 we would all know the name Lifeless, much like label buddies Fatalist. In 2010, it is great to hear a band not resting on their laurels and following trends, but by giving a buzzsaw rendition of classic death metal the way it should be, Lifeless are certainly not dead in the water, these Germans will hopefully be punishing you for years to come. .

http://www.myspace.com/lifelessdeathmetal
http://ibexmoonrecords.com/