Touted as the first ever death metal album made in Maltese, Għadam by Beheaded may be more indecipherable than usual for the genre due to the language barrier but it is no less accessible in the only way death metal knows how to be.
Something of a tour-de-force, the album mixes brutal death metal with more atmospheric and melodic moments throughout its run time. The doom laden opening ushering in the preconceived ideas pulled from Maltese literature and horror, by ‘Ihirsa’ we are in full on blackened territory as buzz guitars rip through a murky atmosphere. Prior to this they have also covered old school riffs and got technical on ‘B’niket inħabbru I-mewt’ (that takes some typing out, never mind saying it).
Through it all is a production which is raw enough to satiate any hardened death metal fan, but also bears witness to the bands melodic structures which pull the album back from sheer brutality. It’s a measured approach similar to early Entombed, although the blackened aspects set them aside from their Swedish peers.
Maybe it’s centrepiece ‘Il-Kittieb’, which sums the album and band up. Progressive, with one foot in the horror genre, and the other in exploring how far they can take the various aspects of death metal. Of course, if you want simple old school riffs there are plenty of these too. In short, this album is a heady/heavy listen which should satisfy any fan of the genre.
