THE REARVIEW MIRROR (CENTINEX)

 

Death metal will never die, and some death metal bands are really hard to kill, too.

After eight albums going back to 1992’s Subconscious Lobotomy and a dozen shorter releases, Sweden’s Centinex disbanded in 2006 — but they crawled out of their grave in 2014 and released a comeback album named Redeeming Filth, which was a hell of a comeback. And they have another album on the way now.

 

 

I don’t mean to suggest that this Centinex is the same band who released Subconscious Lobotomy or even the same one that released their last album before the break-up (2005’s World Declension). The only member of the current band who has been in the line-up since the beginning is bassist Martin Shulman, and none of the other current members was around even for that 2005 album. But they’re hardly newcomers to the scene: Sverker Widgren (Demonical, Diabolical) on guitars; vocalist Alexander Högbom (October Tide, Spasmodic, Volturyon); and drummer Kennet Englund (Interment) who was also in Centinex from 1999-2003.

Redeeming Filth was home to one of the songs I picked for our list of 2014’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs,  not only because of the atmospherically morbid crawl that interrupts the on-rushing freight train but also because I really enjoyed chanting “MOIST PURPLE SKIN” right along with the band. I’m hopeful that the new album will be another confident step forward on the comeback path. Its name is Doomsday Rituals, and the cover art (by Bahrull Marta of Abomination Imagery) was revealed by Agonia Records about a week ago:

 

 

But I’ve been thinking about Centinex recently not only because of the new album announcement and tasty artwork, but also because Centinex will be making an appearance on May 27 at this year’s edition of Maryland Deathfest — and MDF is getting close enough to taste now. Centinex are one of the MDF must-see bands for yours truly.

For this Sunday’s look back at the metal of yesteryear, I have to include that 2014 “most infectious” song, even though it’s not very old. But I thought I’d also pick a couple from the band’s early years, too. So what I’ve got below are “Until Death Tear Us Apart” from Subconscious Lobotomy and “Transcend the Dark Chaos” from the 1996 album Malleus Maleficarum, which provide a nice contrast with each other, and then “Bloodconqueror” from Hellbrigade (2000).

https://www.facebook.com/Centinexofficial/

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7FHVDNQzA