Totenmond

Actually I almost missed that TOTENMOND are releasing their sixth output already. Nonetheless it really isn’t a pity since they haven’t really changed that much, which means the trio is still sounding like in their early days - even if they have speeded up a bit. Crude Doom/Metalcore is what these Germans stand for and they are making use of it on Unter Knochen. After an annoying intro the title-track is being started with an endlessly long Doom-riff that suddenly switches over into a speed-orgy after 2 minutes. Permafrost does not take prisoners either, though I get a feeling of unimaginative songwriting already which turns out to imply more and more the longer this CD is rotating in my player. Zu Gast bei den Toten is a groovy mid-tempo-song disemboguing in a doomy Cathedral-riff in the end. If this song would be finished “in time” it might sound quite cool. But due to an unnecessary stalling to a length of nearly 8 minutes this track gets on my nerves then. And so I force my way through the rest of the CD, not knowing of what to think of Unter Knochen. Here a nice idea, there a good riff, but overall the material is mixed up with boring stuff en mass, making me press the “Skip”-button again and again. TOTENMOND have their own style and don’t move away a millimetre. But if this is the right decision? I don’t know... Overall this CD is an abdicable piece of music containing far too much filler-stuff. Below average.