DEAD SYNDICATE - The Carrion Creed
March 21, 2007, 17 years ago
(Black Morning Star)
You can't help but think of vintage Morbid Angel, Carcass and current atrocities like Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth when the nightmare of Dead Syndicate’s The Carrion Creed commences. Frontman Donny Doss is a chokehold of terror, spewing forth and lashing out, while a barbed-wire runway of punishing double-bass, grinding, down-tuned riffs and anarchy topple. So the mood is far from docile in North Virginia these days when lead-off cut 'Plague Of All Plagues' swirls into high gear and it's quite clear that the five-piece have done their homework with steady intensity and malicious drive. The bass-driven intro 'Weeping On The Shores Of Lucrine Lake' segues into a bleeding Trey Azagthoth attack on 'Whore Of Babylon'. 'Vampyre' and the Benton-like 'Kill Like A God' are more straight-forward blasts, Dead Syndicate arriving at an extreme juncture which most metalcore bands could take heed from and use to grow from the pack. No, The Carrion Creed is far from the glut of this decade’s bad-apple-core; it’s more like a healthy mix of new ideas mixed with old commandments. Indeed, the eight-minute-plus closer 'Beast Nero' is a sobering summary of Dead Syndicate's potential.
