Band: CHAINSWORD
Country: Poland
Title: Blightmarch
Label: Godz ov War Productions
Year: 2021
Style: Death Metal

Review:
Obviously Bolt Thrower comes to mind even from the first guitar riffs, and I guess no such Death Metal band will ever escape this comparison in the future, and I guess they are all aware of this, but the good thing is there's so much room to improve and evolve on from this point on. Ok, Both Thrower are the forefathers, the main influence of a full array of Old-School Death Metal bands, but they (most of them) are taking the style to different territories one step of a time. Polish quintet Chainsword are around since 2016 and this is their debut album, a 10 tracks material with a total duration of 43 minutes. We're offered a heavy, violent, visceral, catchy type of (mostly) mid-tempo to fast paced Death Metal that takes inspiration from other genre variants like Black Death or Death Grind, and the overall impression is, as the cover artwork and lyrics suggest, of total war and destruction. The main vocals are low growls, not comprehensive, but they are often accompanied by background screams that enhance the impact and even makes them understandable at times. I have to say I'm puzzled by the band's choice for cover art, it seems like the album is about some supranatural / fantastic entity at war with the Wolrds, but at the same time the band has song titles like Ost Front 1942: Moskau or Ost Front 1943: Stalingrad, that are clearly reality-inspired. I would be curious to find out how come they chose this mix of genres in their topics. All in all this is a massive album, very convincing for a debutant band, fans of bands like Bolt Thrower, Grave, Debauchery, or even Hate or Decapitated should check them out. Oh, also as a miscellaneous fact the quality of the Digipak is one of the best I've seen.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10

Contact:
chainsword.bandcamp.com
godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com