This isn't really doing it for me like it should. I love my old-school Swedish death metal and I'm as much into the resurgence of the style as anyone but, let's face it, the genre is a hell of a lot more populated now than it ever was back in the day. With that in mind, bands really need to up their game in order to genuinely recreate the vibe once reserved for the genre gods of the late '80s and early '90s. There's something about the production on "Deceased to exist" that fails to hit the mark and, to these ears, it's the fact that there's no real punch behind the sound. Bands that sounded like this back in the day generally did so through lack of resources when recording a demo and, given the genre in which Maim reside, it's quite possible that they're deliberately recreating this dirty, relatively weak sonority in an attempt to sound grim and nekro. Musically, it's nothing to get excited about and, as much as I love the style, I can't see Maim getting too much airplay in Chez Norby. - John Norby
Swedish death metallers Maim have confirmed that their new album "Deceased to exist" will be released in early 2011 via and are now streaming three new sample tunes at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/maimdeathmetal
You can peep the new cover art from Mattias Frisk (Vanhelgd) over there as well.
Imperial State Electric and Bloodlights, two overrated rock acts featuring members from bands that used to be good, will be touring together in November and will be putting out a split 7" with the two bands. I'm not sure what Bloodlights is doing, but ISE is covering "Castaway" by Greg Kihn. Dates at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/imperialstateelectric
has posted the art for the upcoming Iron Lamb 7" "Peskycostal preaching": http://www.soulsellerrecords.com/
No word on a release date, but it was originally supposed to be out in June.
This is cretin death metal for death metal cretins, as if that wasn't obvious from the title and cover art. No surprise, it's not as if the genre hasn't always been a refuge for degenerates and losers, though in Maim's favor, it must be said that their particular brand of death is far more schlocky b-movie horror/gore-obsessed than anything else. Thankfully, there's nothing even remotely approaching the distastefulness of Cannibal Corpse's "Fucked with a knife" and beyond that, I honestly doubt they take their lyrics all that seriously so neither should you. Anyhow, it's nice to see this album finally get a proper vinyl release at long last as that is the proper format for this sort of maggot-minded metal and Niels Nielsen's appropriately filthy, but extremely well-balanced production. Anything else you need to know can probably be gleaned from their country of origin (Sweden) and their choice of cover tune (Autopsy's "Ridden with disease"). I'll sure there are legions of people out there ready to start the backlash against the current old-school death metal revival trend, but as long as bands like this keep putting out solid new releases, I'm all for it. - Avi Roig
Maim
Maim
