Tuesday 7 January 2020

Magefa - New Era Of Darkness EP (Self-Released)


Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Digital
Release Date: 09 Aug 2019

Tracklist:

1. Fasciitis Necroticans
2. 197.4 Intraoperative Hemorrhage
3. Mindless Religion
4. Multiple Organ Harvesting
5. Amputated By Force
6. New Era Of Darkness

I've made it too Tuesday evening and I feel like that's an achievement. Before I launch back into what this new decade has for us, I thought I'd take a dive into more music from 2019. On picking at random from my list, German death metal band Magefa caught my eye. On further investigation, the trio (previously a quartet) who began life in 2014 are staunchly anti-religious and follow the path that was created by the likes of Carcass and Obituary, while also drawing inspiration from more recent acts like Slipknot and Thy Art Is Murder. "New Era Of Darkness" is their debut EP and it was released digitally by the band last August.

Magefa have certainly done their research when it comes to song titles and sound. EP opener Fasciitis Necroticans is a brutal death metal song with plenty of grind and some slams too. I was not expecting it to be as complete as it is. The drums leave no time for breath, while the guitar and bass work is technical and invigorating to say the least! The vocals are made up of the sorts of growls that sound as though the vocalist is frothing at the mouth. It’s only a short song compared to the rest of the EP though, so don’t turn away just yet. 197.4 Intraoperative Hemorrhage is another song-title straight out of the medical dictionary and it proves just how much Magefa’s Carcass inspiration influences their music. Again, it’s pace and power is obvious with the well recorded, mixed and mastered sound helping them to appear louder and gnarlier than a lot of their underground peers. There’s even some jazz/blues phrasing going on as too.

They wait till the third song in to unleash their anti-religious side and Mindless Religion is more involved in terms of length, while not letting up for one second. The blasts are certain to do you an injury if you try and keep pace with them and there’s something in common here with UK thrash legends Onslaught and teutonic countrymen Kreator. There’s groove and tons of instrumental might. They’re brutal without being formulaic, which is a hard thing to do sometimes. Multiple Organ Harvesting is fast and intense during the verses but the thrash metal influence I eluded to above makes a welcome appearance again and proves that it’s always been there throughout this EP. You’ve heard of the phrase “diamond in the rough”, well I think we’ve just found one in Magefa.

This is the performance of a band that have clearly been honing their sound properly before diving headfirst into a release. Amputated By Force is a mixture of their straight-up brutal death metal and the more experimental take on the genre that was championed by the likes of Atheist and Death. Now, I know that comparing such a new band to the genre’s forefathers may be seen as extremely high praise, but it’s worth it here I feel. They wait till the end to unleash New Era Of Darkness in it’s near seven-minute entirety. Never has a title-track been as anticipated as this and it lives up to expectations. The old-school approach that’s taken by Magefa during it’s intro, the way they transition into their explosive best and how they retain that pace seems easy. Pure, unadulterated, hateful extreme metal at its most enjoyable from a bunch of genuinely nice dudes (judging by their most recent social media band photo). This release has really floored me and while the EP artwork might be a bit at odds with it, the music is brilliant. 

You can stream and purchased "New Era Of Darkness" digitally here:-



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