ALBUM REVIEW: Baest – Venenum

Here I review the new album from modern Swedish-style Death Metal masterminds, BAEST. Out now via Century Media Records.

Wasting no time to introduce a flurry of HM-2 chainsaw guitar riffing and intense blastbeats with classic guttural roars, this record has no lack of energy right from the very first seconds with a driven and pummelling force of killer musicianship ripping right into you. The riffs are strong with plenty of churned out tremolo picking to suit the upbeat onslaught of fierce drum work and the suitably filthy vocals, the production value of the album is huge and meaty as it should be, much in the style of their first. The mid tempo chugs give some destructive groove that makes you want to lay things to waste as the savage sonic assault ruptures your ears. Baest do an excellent job of not overusing any particular sound, foraging through gruesome crawls, odious blasting bliss and chugging hell-grooves, just how the Swedish masters in the early days did. “Gula” is one of the filthiest tracks I have heard from Baest and definitely a stand out one with its slow hammering pace that is totally crushing with a primal riff idea that oozes HM-2 goodness and builds up beautifully to a brilliant soundscape of classic Death Metal violence. Baest are back on top form with a marvellous follow up to the first album, staying in the footsteps of heroes like Entombed, Carnage, Dismember, Grave and Nihilist with this vitriolic stomp of devastation. All of the tracks have a stupidly catchy and brutal energy to them that is smoothly transferred for an always growing and monolithic momentum that is “like an ever-flowing stream” of putrid Swedeath brilliance. A perfect example is the monumental sounding march that is “Heresy” with some of the most massive and skull-shattering grooves of fantastic proportions you will hear on a Swedeath record this year. There  are some nice melodic touches that add a bit more of a skilful flourish to this record than their previous but nothing that becomes grating or out of place, keeping the storming warfare of their rhythmic monstrosity intact. Closing the album we have a fierce cover of the Bolt Thrower classic “No Guts, No Glory”, a piece by my favourite Death Metal band, something I think definitely requires guts as Bolt Thrower are so universally loved. Baest certainly pull it off and bring this decimating new opus to a close that is a valuable addition to their discography, though I prefer “Danse Macabre” for its down-to-earth level of unrelenting pure Death Metal torment, there is no denying they have progressed as musicians and this album is a more skilfully played one. Regardless of my preference in album, this is a must listen for fans of Swedeath with plenty of punch. -8/10