BAEST · Danse Macabre (Re-Issue 2023) | TRANSPARENT MAGENTA LP

Transparent magenta vinyl.

Background information about 'Danse Macabre (Re-Issue 2023)'

There is a moment on "Danse Macabre" where BAEST stop being merely a very good death metal band and turn into something genuinely frightening. The Danish five-piece came out of Aarhus with a debut that already sounded like a statement, and this second full-length doubles down on everything that made them interesting: the HM-2-worshipping guitar tone, the whiplash riffing, the sense that the whole thing could collapse into chaos at any second and somehow never does.

What lifts this record above the endless tide of revival acts is the songwriting. "Crosswhore" opens the gates with a riff that feels like a boot to the chest, "Hecatomb" swings with a groove that is almost disrespectful, and the title track slows things down just enough to let the dread settle in. Frontman Simon Olsen sounds like he is gargling gravel and loving every second of it, while the rhythm section keeps a death-grind precision underneath the filth. There is a whiff of early Entombed and Dismember here, sure, but also a modern, almost punkish impatience that keeps the record from ever feeling like a museum piece.

The production is deliberately ugly in the best possible way, all buzzing low end and cymbals that slice through the mix. It is a record that rewards volume and punishes headphones. Thirty-odd minutes, no filler, no self-indulgent interludes. Just pure, gleeful nastiness played by people who clearly grew up tape-trading and never quite got over it. This reissue puts it back on wax where it belongs.

For fans of: Entombed, Dismember, Bloodbath, Grave, Vader

Other Versions

LP · Sold out

Track listing

A1. Crosswhore
A2. Hecatomb
A3. Danse Macabre
A4. Atra Mors
B1. Messe Macabre
B2. Ritual
B3. Vortex
B4. Ego Te Absolvo

Manufacturer: Century Media Records GmbH, Schäferstr. 33a, 44147 Dortmund, Germany, Contact: www.centurymedia.com