Blind Buy Surprise Albums Pt. 6: Cenotaph: Saga Belica

One day I was contemplating placing an order with MetalDisc. I highly recommend that site by the way, huge inventory of stuff. I knew I would be getting Burn to Black, Root, and Reverend Bizarre and I knew I wanted to add on one more band. Preferably something inexpensive. So, I went through the clearance titles and eventually decided on Cenotaph, a Mexican death metal band with members who went on to form The Chasm. I did not know much about this band at all, I just assumed it would be a slightly interesting addition to the collection. It quickly became one of my favorite death metal albums though, a result I was not expecting.

There are a couple of bands named Cenotaph. This is the Mexican death metal band, not the Turkish brutal death/grind band. Cenotaph plays a form of old school death metal with strong melodic tendencies, but they play music that absolutely rips and roars through the speaker. It's extremely aggressive, almost rabid. Earlier in their career, they were very similar to early At the Gates material. This album abandons much of that for a full-on angry attack on the senses.

Cenotaph is a much more streamlined death metal machine on this album, with razor-sharp riffs, pummelling drums, and desperate, snarling vocals. The band comes across as a ferocious beast on this album. The sound is exciting and fresh. Many bands have become too laid back, this is a whole different animal.

As I said, this album shocked me. I had no idea it would be as good as it is.