ME SACO UN OJO RECORDS is proud to present UNDERGANG’s highly anticipated fifth album, ALDRIG I LIVET, on vinyl LP format.

 

Since 2008, Denmark’s UNDERGANG have been pursuing the deepest, darkest depths of total DEATH METAL. Steeped in the classics, the quartet aren’t so much “old school” like so many HM-2 worshippers nowadays as they are simply old-sounding, brazenly brandishing a sound that nods to early Finnish death metal, slimy doom-death as equally as timeless goregrind. It’s a sound that’s garnered the band a legion of devotees across the world, and justifiably so.

 

And while it’s been three interminably long years since their last album, Misantropologi, at long last do UNDERGANG arrive with their long-awaited fifth full-length: ALDRIG I LIVET. Simply put, this is UNDERGANG at their very best, subtly striving for new twists on their characteristic sound whilst making that sound more engaging than ever before. Graced with utterly crushing production, ALDRIG I LIVET is undoubtedly the band’s most ominous record to date, rooting among the ruins of the most desolate DOOM-death committed to tape and warping that wreckage with slithering solos that seem to creep like tendrils across an inter-dimensional portal. It’s a sick and sickening slog through the sewers of the subconscious – forecasted by the cover art, once again courtesy of vocalist/guitarist David Mikkelsen – and UNDERGANG effortlessly lumber forth with a swagger that’s startling to behold. Even this many years in to their celebrated catalog, the quartet show no signs of relinquishing their crown as Denmark’s premier death metal champions, and ALDRIG I LIVET is disgusting proof.

 

Our take: Fifth album from this Danish death metal band. We don’t typically talk about death metal bands’ fifth albums in the Sorry State newsletter, but I heard some good buzz about Undergang and I checked this record out and dug it. In case you are unaware, the metal scene is experiencing a revival of what the kids are calling OSDM, or Old School Death Metal. When people my age think of death metal, we think of Florida bands like Death and Morbid Angel, or maybe bands like Entombed or Carcass who did similar things in different parts of the world. While I’m sure these modern OSDM bands are familiar with those records, this wave of bands (in whom I’d also include Blood Incantation and Tomb Mold) seems like they take more influence from those bands’ demo eras, or from deeper cut groups like Master and Possessed, or maybe even raw Brazilian death metal. While it still has all the more mainstream death metal bands’ technical proficiency and heaviness, there’s a deliberate sense of ugliness and rawness that reminds me of the hardcore punk we love at Sorry State. If you’re looking to dip your toe in this new OSDM sound,  Aldrig I Livet is a great entry point.