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Released on November 6, 2015 via Cyclone Empire
Dutch death metal band Bodyfarm blast out of the gates on their latest full-length album, Battle Breed. Fellow Dutchman and legendary death metal vocalist Martin Van Drunnen makes a cameo on the first track, surprising some folks who aren’t expecting it. Bodyfarm play death metal made famous by Thanatos and Asphyx – they start out at a thrashy breakneck pace before slowing down in the middle of the song, ending it by going full-on thrash again. The catchy shreds and death metal licks are classic death metal though, not quite thrash. Bodyfarm may not stray far from the template at all on most of their eleven tracks, but nobody said they had to in the first place.
Sure, the album stomps and rages at the start of most tracks, slowing down in the middle, but the band try to do a few things different on the latter half of the album. Track four, ‘Dawn of Defeat’, has some blastbeats, then revisits the thrashy pace again, signaled by the brief fill-in. Track four is really the first track to mix up the tempos, breaking down in the middle of the song to go with some double-bass kicks. The rock drums accompany some chugga-chugga and the catchy riffs keep adding up. It isn’t long before the shredding returns and the band go fast again. But surprise! Track four ends with a flurry of double-kicks, before the band cut it dry.
Track five starts off the way track four ends, double kicks picking up the pace some. Then chugga-chugga groove makes it’s way back in the mix. Track five, ‘The Last Crusade’, is catchy, mostly mid-tempo death metal, the lyrics accompanying the music before the album’s first guitar solo enters the fray. It’s too bad that the solo doesn’t sound all that good. Bodyfarm are clearly a more rhythm guitar-inclined band. More blasts come the listener’s way before some heavy metal licks end the track.
It’s true that Bodyfarm are adept at this style of aggressive, melodic death metal, occasionally slowing down for some nuance. Their not way-in-over-their-heads here. This material suits the instrumentation, and the vocals and the lyrics sound harmoniously intertwined.
There is some filler on Battle Breed. Parts of track six, ‘Prince of Wallachia’, could have been cut shorter to highlight only the better riffs. There aren’t a great deal of songs that sound filler in entirety – like track six, they could have just used some stripping of unnecessary parts.
The lack of quality solos also makes such an absence felt. The shredding is top-notch, and the drums get flogged by the sticks. The production values lend Battle Breed a nice hint of abrasion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Colin Richardson had mixed this.
Bodyfarm is a good band and Battle Breed is a good listen. Fans of this breed of death metal will find this worth coming back to on occasion. Underground heathens might find this worthwhile once or twice, but this very marketable and catchy form of death metal is not a step back for the underrated band, even if it doesn’t exactly send them rocketting up into the death metal canon. The riffs are mostly catchy, thrashy, and enjoyable. The songwriting is simple and the melodies don’t sound alien to prototypical death metal. I wish they could’ve taken cue from Van Drunnen’s projects on Battle Breed – killer stomp, breakneck pace, slowjams for the ages. As it is, Battle Breed warrants a good recommendation for fans of this type of metal. It won’t please everyone, but it will please Bodyfarm’s fanbase a great deal.
