BAEST – COLOSSAL

(Andy Synn has always been Baest‘s biggest cheerleader here at NCS, and that’s not about to change)

As the dude who’s been singing the praises of Danish death-dealers Baest (or Bæst, as I still prefer to call them) for a long time now, and who believes that they deserve just as much hype and attention as the Tomb Molds and Blood Incantations of the world, it was only natural for me to be the one to cover their upcoming fourth album (set for release 15 August on Century Media).

But, I must admit – having purposefully avoided all the pre-release singles so that I could experience (and, hopefully, enjoy) the whole record in one go – my first encounter with Colossal wasn’t quite what I expected.

Because it was way more… whisper it… fun than I ever would have imagined.

Don’t get me wrong, Baest have never been the sort to take themselves too seriously… if you’ve ever seen them live I’m sure you’ll know what I mean, as they’ve never been the type of band to just stand around flexing and gurning and trying to look tough when they could be bouncing around, banging their heads, and rocking the fuck out… but there was still a dark edge to tracks like of “As Above So Below” and “Sea of Vomit” that let you know they definitely weren’t joking around, even though they were having fun doing it.

And while they’ve not exactly turned into a Party Thrash band on Colossal – the chugging, churning riffs and stomping, staggering rhythms of “Colossus”, for example, are just as hefty and just as heavy as anything from their still-growing back-catalogue – there’s an even greater sense of arena-level exuberance and shameless hookiness to be found here than ever before, something which feels like it owes just as much (if not more) to “classic rock” icons like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin than it does the likes of Cannibal Corpse or Bloodbath.

Let me be clear about something though… that’s not a bad thing! After all, their German cousins in Chapel of Disease made some serious waves by doing the same thing with 2018’s phenomenal …and As We Have Seen the Storm, We Have Embraced the Eye (which remains one of the best “extreme” albums of the last decade in my opinion), and at its best Colossal comes close to hitting many of the same high points in its own right.

Opener “Stormbringer”, for example, is four-and-a-half minutes of unrelentingly catchy riffs wrapped around a massive, crowd-pleasing chorus, that nevertheless never lets you forget that it’s a Death Metal track at heart (Simon Olsen’s guttural growls make sure of that), while “In Loathe and Love” (which showcases a seriously impressive performance from drummer Sebastian Abildsten) doubles-down on the band’s well-documented Dismember worship, after which “King of the Sun” (which hosts both a guest spot from Jesper Binzer of D-A-D as well as some shamelessly egregious use of cowbell) reminds you just why certain people… cough… have jokingly (but not that jokingly) referred to Baest as “Entombed meets The Eagles” in the past.

I’ll grant you that the record is more than a little front-loaded – both the aforementioned “Colossus” and the melodic-yet-monstrous “Imp of the Perverse” ensure that the opening quintet of tracks is an all-killer, no-filler, smorgasbord of hooks and heaviness, but there’s a bit of a lull in the proceedings during “Misfortunate Son” and “Mouth of the River” to my ears – and the decision to put soaring instrumental “Light the Beacons” before the outstanding “Depraved World” (part Jester Race era In Flames, part Moving Pictures period Rush, part straight-up Swe-Death buzzsaw brilliance) feels like a minor misstep in track-ordering (as it really should be the other way around), but when it’s on form it’s as good as anything the band have done before.

It might seem like a contradiction in terms, but when all is said and done, Colossal is one of the most lively Death Metal albums of the year, one that doesn’t wallow in misery and despair but instead serves as a very particular mememto mori, a reminder that if we’re all going to die we might as well go down banging our heads and throwing the horns… because, in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about?