Kommand is ready for battle.
Formed in 2015 in the United States, the band will wait until 2020 to release their first album. In 2023, Jesse Sanes (vocals), Ian Logan (guitar), Sam Bosson (drums), Sam Shriver (guitar), and Tim Shriver (bass) announced the release of Death Age, their sophomore album, on 20 Buck Spin.
Final Virus, the first track, quickly reveals its dark and dissonant riffs anchored in a very Old School approach of Death Metal. Raw groove and massive vocals easily confirm the band’s style, which weaves effective and heavy riffs accompanied by shrilling leads, guiding us to the warlike Chimera Soldiers which will remind the most experienced listeners of a legendary English band. The soaring harmonics fit perfectly the solid basis which will accelerate to welcome screams, but we will still have some slower parts before Global Death comes to place some disturbing sounds. The extremely throbbing sound will be strengthened with blast, double kick and sharp riffs to reveal all its strength without forgetting the melancholic touch before the final acceleration, which lets Polar Holdout take over with a jerky rhythmic. The acceleration becomes quite obvious, and the band places its heavy riffs with very straightforward patterns, followed by Fleeing Western Territories which defends itself with a very similar approach just as effective. The basic rhythm with Thrash influences remains very appreciable to temporize the surges of rage, then the album closes with Collapse Metropolis, a track based on the same model, alternating between waves of raw fury with effective riffs, sometimes shaded by more heady and slower leads.
Very short, Death Age does not hide its Bolt Thrower influences. Less than thirty minutes of riffs that make Kommand an appreciable band when you like Old School Death, heavy sound and heady English riffs.
75/100