Well… well… its been a while. 

I have been locked in a furious battle between work and life.  I have started a new job and I am currently getting ready for building work to commence so all in all I have just about managed to come up for some much-needed air akin to digging my way out of the cold broken earth of a grave with my bare hands… so with bloody and bruised fingers, I write this review…

BAEST – wow! This band are bringing it old school with the infamous HM-2 pedal sound and influenced by the godfathers of European death metal such as Bloodbath, Entombed, Grave and Dismember as well as some clear Morbid Angel influences.  With a steady double kick beat from Abildsten, heavy bass from Melchiorsen and buzzing riffs from Karlson and Revsbech, they are brutal but engaging.  I have found myself listening to their new record Danse Macabre many, many times.  I first heard Baest through their 2016 EP Marie Magdalene which has such a great sound and was excited to hear they signed to the legendary Century Media record company responsible for so many heavy music records, I hoped the next release would be awesome and they did not disappoint.

Danse Macabre is an album bringing the dance of death to life with a crushing heaviness from the band and grinding vocals from Olsen.  Here are some standout tracks;

The opening track ‘Crosswhore’ is great.  My favourite from the album as its heavy, rhythmic and purposeful and a very cool guitar solo midway through the track.  Whether its intentional or not, the title brought images of The Exorcist and was helped along with lyrical lines of “abusing herself with a Crucifix in her hand’’ and ‘’your violation is my salvation’’.  An awesome opening track…

The title track ‘Danse Macabre’ begins with a crackling fire and an acoustic guitar plucking away in the darkness slowly building into an absolute ripping blast beat and furious guitars, again bringing the pace right down midway showing off the HM-2 buzz saw and the ability of the band to change pace instantly…  This style continues throughout the record, with a fast/slow musical element and vocals roaring straight out of the grave.

‘Ritual’ defuses the aggression completely with an acoustic instrumental of only a minute or so before the brutality re-emerges with ‘Vortex’…

The last track ‘Ego to Absolvo’ brings all the above into conclusion with some excellent guitar work from the lead guitarists Karlsson and Revsbech akin to Morbid Angel master slayer Trey Azagthoth.

This is a brilliant first album from Baest and although up until now they have almost exclusively played live in Denmark with over 40 shows, I really hope to see them bringing this record live to the UK as I think it will go down a storm.

For a debut album, I give this  4/5 as they have room to grow into the “Baest” I believe they can become…