### Malevolent Creation: Doomsday X

#### 25/07/07 || Euthanatos

This New York outfit is well-known in the death metal world. Malevolent Creation may have a shady album in their discography here and there, but no one can take away their importance in the genre, being both pioneers and masters of brutal music.

With that said, Malevolent Creation was also responsible for one of the best metal shows I have ever witnessed, and that was greatly due to Kyle Symons’ magnificent performance. I’ve never seen such a killer live vocalist. Well, what d´ya know, these fuckers had to fire him, so you better take this review with a grain of pissed off salt.

This means Brett Hoffman is back in the fold, and that’s not a bad thing. Hoffman is legendary and a sound vocalist, his death metal growls are as classic as they get. They just don’t appeal as much to me as the former’s. True, I might be a little unfair with Brett because of this album’s songwriting; again, it’s not bad, it’s just not “The Will to Kill” good. Yes, I know there was “Warkult” in between those two, but I didn’t like it, so fuck off.

“Doomsday X” is a better effort than the previous, in all aspects. The name is terrible, though, let’s face it. What the hell were these guys thinking. Anyway, the riffs are better, the production sounds better, overall performance from the bandmembers is better. I really like some of the guitarwork that gets thrown into the mix here, like in “Culture of Doubt”, “Archaic” and “Buried in a Nameless Grave”, which incidentally is a very cool song name.

So what’s missing here? I really don’t know. It’s death metal, it sounds very eighties-ish but without seeming outdated and there’s some amazing guitarwork… But on the whole, it fails to impress. Maybe I’m just being a pain in the ass, this is solid stuff actually, so I’ll cut you a deal: Listen to this album if you’re into Malevolent, and you’ll like it. If you like classic death metal, you’ll like it. If you want to have several orgasms while listening to it, you might think of it like me: Good, but not damn good.

The cover: Skulls, fire, bodies and shit. That’s pretty much all you need in death metal.

7.5 fascianas out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.malevolent-creation.com
- Band
- Brett Hoffman: vocals
- Phil Fasciana: guitars
- Dave Culross: drums
- Jason Blachowicz: bass
- Jon Rubin: guitars

- Tracklist
- 01. Cauterized
- 02. Culture of Doubt
- 03. Deliver my Enemy
- 04. Archaic
- 05. Buried in a Nameless Grave
- 06. Dawn of Defeat
- 07. Prelude to Doomsday
- 08. Upon Their Cross
- 09. Strength in Numbers
- 10. Hollowed
- 11. Unleash Hell
- 12. Bio-Terror