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Death Metal as a phenomenon is going strong in Finland, much like it did back in the early 90s. One of the most potential-bearing Finnish Death Metal fruits that was born from this Death Metal reawakening is a band named Sadistik Forest that has already put two albums out: the self-titled debut album in 2010 and its follow-up, Death Doom, Radiation, in 2012.

These deathsters' newest collection of hymns about death and decay is titled Morbid Majesties. This 8-track effort puts the band in the same elite league as some other top Finnish Death Metal patrols like Krypts, Worthless, Lantern, Purtenance, etc., coming forth with their absolute strongest, most varied, and most refined album to date. Unlike many of their partners in crime, Sadistik Forest doesn't really have the distinctive 'Finnish Death Metal' tag sunken deep in their sound; there's actually quite a lot more to their sound than just that. Besides the obvious Finnish Death Metal mangling, they also add some influences from both the American and Swedish Death Metal territories as well, brutalizing us with songs that are meant to slice some flesh and break bones... The ugly way, dear folks.

From the opening title track all the way right to the ending song, "Bones of a Giant," there's really no stopping this Finnish Death Metal patrol. Bassist and vocalist Markus' bellowing, deep, and throaty death grunts (that often bring one Mr. Benton to mind, by the way) combined with his deranged Black Metal-esque shrieks work perfectly within the songs, coloring the band's ominous death march with a variety of deep and dark elements. There's something for every extreme Metal fan here, from the Florida (or Deicide?) type of Death Metal to the usual downtuned Swe/Fin-tinged type of punishing Death Metal, it's like an unholy marriage between all things ungodly evil in downright extreme Metal. Did I hear some of Slayer's influence in the guitars in "Monsters of Death"? I guess I did.

Darkness has descended. Welcome to the realm of Morbid Majesties now!