I've been listening to some Kataklysm albums I own, to check them really out if they are worth keeping. And yeah, they have some good stuff in them. I happened to go through some promotional stuff and I just randomly clicked on this Portuguese band called Burn Damage's latest release's promo.

'Downward Passage' is a four-song EP (their 2nd one, after 2016's debut album 'Age of Vultures'), and it does include some modern style melodic death/thrash metal, very much similar to Kataklysm's. The one difference is the pace of the music, which here is rather slow. And I am not bored, but think the fluctuation through various paces is okay and suitable. The opener 'Vortex' includes some slow yet blistering riffing, and the title is totally fitting, as the pace at times goes up a bit, making it also a headbangable song.

'Fire Walk with Me' has more of a rocking vibe on its riffs, kind of melodic death metal meeting sludge metal, contaning some seriously volatile and ominous vibes. The band are able to stomp. It also gets faster, bringing in deathcore elements. And then again, 'Inception' is a 2-minute fast one, and ends up being the most faceless song of the bunch. And the least catchy, easily. The slow parts make Burn Damage sound somewhat different, it seems, so the slowness is more than welcome. 'They Live' is a mutating piece of ugliness, which contains some haunting vocal bits.

Talking about the vocals, they are performed by a lady. She can go low with her growls, and does pack quite a lot of punch in her voice (okay, there are overlapping vocal track, but still). If I didn't know the vocalist was a she, I never would have guessed it. There's also beastly bellowing she makes, as well as more high-pitched distorted voice. The guitars go from slow icking to fast tremolo playing, and are often hefty as fuck, or burning. The drums from doomy beats to fast thrashing and double kick drumming, and it's great to hear rumbling bass guitar with reverbing tom drums making it sound more roomy. The sound is generally hefty, and the elements are well heard.

Burn Damage aren't totaly unique, as there's been forces like Finnish Corporal Punishment (in the 1990s) and aforementioned Canadians, Kataklysm, who haven't been afraid to meld groove and extreme together. 'Downward Passage' is a cool little EP, and while being around 70 percent modern, I found it positively raw and certainly not jumpnig the bandwagon type thing.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/06/2021 20:16