Year : 2015
Style : Old School Death Metal
Country : Netherlands
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 120 mb
Bio:
Bodyfarm – The Netherlands’ premier old school death metal act – is here with a vengeance. Since its foundation in the late summer of 2009 by Quint Meerbeek and Thomas Wouters, the band has been destroying everything in its path.Their self-titled EP – which saw the light of day in 2010 – was the predecessor of what no one dared to imagine even in their wildest dreams. The group quickly gained recognition for their furious and mind dazzling metal-riffs in the vein of Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Grave, Obituary and many others. A video was shot for the group’s first single ‘Slaves of War’ which has gathered more than 215.000 youtube views since its release.Guitarist Bram Hilhorst and bassist Mathieu Westerveld joined Bodyfarm’s ranks and the group’s debut album ‘Malevolence’ was released in 2012 on the reputable Cyclone Empire label. It received high praise from music critics all around the world thanks to its mixture of recognizable and raw vocals, up-tempo and grooving riffs, bestial drums and violent artwork.Even with a highly successful debut-album like ‘Malevolence’, Bodyfarm kept pushing the boundaries. This resulted in the group’s flesh ripping second album ‘The Coming Scourge’, released through Cyclone Empire in September 2013 and later re-released via Metal Blade Records in the United States. The album was very well received by fans and critics and the single ‘Unbroken’ has become one of the finest death-metal anthems of this era.Due to other obligations, bass player Mathieu Westerveld was forced to leave Bodyfarm. He has recently been replaced by Harry van Breda, who can pluck the strings as no other. Shortly after this, the band hit the stage again and smoothly built a loyal following. Their highly energetic live performances brought them to the stages of Eindhoven Metal Meeting, ExtremeFest, Hell Inside, Mass Deathtruction, Neurotic Deathfest and Summerbreeze. In their short existence, Bodyfarm has already shared the stage with prestigious bands like Asphyx, Death DTA, Hail Of Bullets, Hypocrisy, Nile, Obituary, Unleashed and many others.Their live shows have been described as “incredibly tight, furious and catchy old school death metal brilliance.”In 2015 bass player Harry Van Beda was replaced by Alex Seegers (ex-PLEURISY).
Album:
I must say this, a lot of the knowledge that I have today of various bands and great music is largely due to Facebook and YouTube, and I remember coming across BODYFARM through a YouTuber who mentioned the band in one of his videos, and since then I did check out their 2013 album “The Coming Scourge” and just a few days ago when I had the option of reviewing this album, I couldn’t resist the temptation. So the legendary Dutch Death Metallers release their third studio album “Battle Breed” on Cyclone Empire Records.With 11 songs on offer here, the album starts with a minute long instrumental in “Hell March” which has a tempo building up to a war atmosphere to it, before “The Dark Age” puts in a familiar BODYFARM territory with its fast paced Death Metal song structure. The drum work creates a fantastic rhythm and reminds me a lot of the band’s previous work and also some of the other bands in the same territory. The dark album cover art imagery resonates well with the violent and ant-social lyrics of the song and also most of the rest of the album. “Saxon Victory” continues with the groovy hair lifting riffs, and managing to sound fresh and innovative. I must mention that I noticed that the vocals of Wouters were slightly of lower volume, though I must mention that it’s not as bad to lead to a deal breaker, but still something which I felt here. The band manages to just pull short of any kind of slams or core-ish sound, and keeps the core sound intact all through the way. The rest of the album simply runs through you like an unstoppable train on a rampage. Though already mentioned, the grooves here are worth mentioning again as they are what really differentiate bands like BODYFARM from the other types of Death Metal or other Metal sub-genre bands. The vocals of Wouters slightly remind me of Johan Hegg of AMON AMARTH. “Storming Revolution” packs a lot with its chunky riffs and the band almost manage to pull out an anthem with those infectious vocals and riffs. The album ends with 2 songs which try to keep you guessing with regards to the tempo, which really tells you that the band has not lost its way anywhere in the album like most contemporary albums do.There isn’t much to find fault here in the 45 minutes of the album, though as I mentioned earlier a slight fine-tuning of the production of vocals would have made it just perfect for me. Although most generic Metal fans may brush aside this album as “just another old school or Brutal Death Metal”, the fact is this is far from it, and this is the kind of Death Metal that I find more and more being talked about among the Death Metal connoisseurs. It’s the kind of album you want to blast out in high volume when you are pissed off about everything in life and depression has casted a cloud in your life, and you just want a way to express your anger, just dig the past and present records of BODYFARM. Fans of VADER, FACEBREAKER, and SLAYER should dig this shit. Mark your calendar, the date is 6th of November, also coincidentally my birthday!
Line Up:
Quint Meerbeek Drums (2009-present) - See also: ex-Bloodphemy, ex-Autumnal Reaper
Bram Hilhorst Guitars (2009-present) - See also: ex-Cavitation
Thomas Wouters Vocals, Guitars (2009-present) - See also: Baneblade
Alex Seegers Bass (2014-present) - See also: ex-Pleurisy
Tracklist:
1. Hell March (Intro) 01:02 instrumental
2. The Dark Age 05:22
3. Saxon Victory 04:58
4. Dawn of Defeat 03:52
5. The Last Crusade 05:07
6. Prince of Wallachia 04:53
7. Storming Revolution 03:26
8. Firing Squad 04:31
9. Wolfpack 04:03
10. Death by Fire 03:50
11. Slaves of War 04:15 (Bonus Track)
+ Video "Storming Revolution" (Official Video)
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