Mendax – S/T EP (Recommendation)

You had a bad day today and you have to get your head shaken with a good pinch of Death Metal to get back down to earth? Then the Polish band Mendax is just the right thing for you. Their self-titled debut EP provides you with 7 songs that can take your frustration far away and at the same time give you a familiar, comfortable feeling with straightforward old school death. No experiments, just pure 90s worshipping for fans of the french fries fork.

Through a connection to Scumeater I first became aware of Mendax, who, after a short listen, had me hooked with their ultra nasty vocals. The deep, disgusting voice gives the sound a distinctive touch, which manifests the fact that you are dealing with really wicked death metal. Most of the time the instruments rumble around and are led by massive drums that set the tempo. From blastparts to stompier sections, everything is represented and especially the anvil sounding cymbal is very catchy. While the slower passages partly remind of dull Caveman Metal, the faster tunes are filled with sawing melodies, which occasionally take on slightly dissonant features without sounding too chaotic and thus breaking the raw foundation. Otherwise the guitar playing is low and grim, expressive but not particularly innovative. Mendax do not reinvent the wheel on their songs, but clearly show, especially through their tempo changes, which sound they are dedicated to. The classic 90’s Death keeps the upper hand and rarely changes into more modern features, which is enough variety for my taste to make the whole thing palatable to me.

As of now the record is only available in digital form, but I know from good sources that Mendax are currently looking for a label to bring their EP to the fan in a physical version. Thanks to the good quality of this debut, it should be possible to realize this in a short time. Anyway, it would be a pity if nobody would do us this favour. If you are into rotten old school metal, which is somewhere between Cannibal Corpse and Cryptopsy and doesn’t spurn modern mosh elements, you should definitely take the time and listen. Because this dull piece of junk should be suitable for almost every die-hard Death Metal fan. After, in my opinion, a very successful start, you should definitely keep Mendax on screen and wait and see what this band pukes out in front of our feet in the future.

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