Dementia 13 – Ways Of Enclosure
Caverna Abismal Records
Released: 13th September 2016
Review By: Dave Griffiths
It’s not hard to believe that Portugal’s Dementia 13 create death metal music inspired from cult cinema, even their name is taken from a classic film directed by Francis Ford Coppola way back in 1963. The surprising thing though is just how good their Ways Of Enclosure album is… because this is a pure stunner. The bad news is if you want a copy of this album this time around you might have to physically battle for it because it is limited to 100 copies and is being released on tape (yes cassette… Google it if you’re from the generation that believes music didn’t exist before CDs).
To be brutally honest, this is death metal the way it is supposed to be performed – brutal, confronting and aggressive. Yes, it’s old-school, but that is what makes this such a gem to listen to . This is an album that gets you from the very beginning as opening track Beyond The Grave begins with a guttural scream from hell that then gives way to some full again aggression broken up by moments of guitar genius by Marco S and Alvaro F.
Ways Of Enclosure sees Dementia 13 change up their pace at whim as tracks like Orgy Of Bloodshed and Conceived In Violence reach speeds normally reserved for punk bands while the slower tracks like Halloween and Nothing In The Dark show a musicianship that really sets Dementia 13 above many bands in this genre.
The standouts on this album though are the amazing vocals from N. Lima (who isn’t officially a member of the band… he is listed as a guest) and the good use of audio grabs from cult films in much the same way that Wednesday 13 have done over the years. The best use of this tactic falls in the middle of They Never Found His Body which consists of the sounds of a massacre occurring mid-song.
Ways Of Enclosure is truly a brilliant release and an album any death metal fan has to have in their collection. When an album even consists of haunting acoustic tracks that work as well as the tracks here you know you are onto an album that is going to go down in history as a classic. If you’re unlucky enough to miss out on one of the limited edition cassette editions of this album you may want to hunt down one of the original CDs that came out in 2015.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMU_BTqhrgo]
