(written by Islander)
With chills and thrills galore, we welcome to our pages the Indonesian band Drain Death. A duo formed in the Yogyakarta region in early 2022, and with a three-song demo released that same year, they bring a mixture of old school death metal and crust punk, indirectly influenced by Nihilist, Nirvana 2002, and Autopsy, as well as Bombandfall, Anti Cimex, and Bastard Priest.
Early next year (a precise release date hasn’t yet been set), Drain Death will have their debut album Merciless Of Doom released in different formats by a quartet of international labels, and to help spread the word we’re today premiering a chilling and also electrifying album track named “Sacrifice Maste.”
Photos by Capture by KEVIN
The band use these words to describe their debut album’s themes:
Drain Death here is trying to respond to an event or bad things that happen in the world, and thinking about the repercussions of all of this which can make living creatures despair and feel that they don’t believe in their help or grace and move further away and die in vain.
They focus on disastrous events, and the question of whether terrible occurrences in life are destined or instead a divine test. And that brings us to the song we’re now premiering
Initially mid-paced in its movement and anchored by gut-rumbling and neck-punching beats, “Sacrifice Maste” sends up grand and grievous chord-fanfares, both imperious and grim. And then, with a few brutish hammer blows as prelude, Drain Death step on the gas, attacking in bursts of frantic but off-kilter drumming and riffage that maniacally swarms and fiendishly writhes.
The drumming keeps shifting, never losing its grip, while the dirty-toned riffing shifts as well, moving back to those haughty opening chords but seamlessly making them sound even more dismal as fretwork flares pierce through in torment. Through it all, the words are expelled in rabid and ragged howls, ravenous and unhinged in their ferocity.
And so, the song viciously cuts up the listener and drags us in agony to our doom.
DRAIN DEATH is:
LOUDNESS – VOCALS/DRUMS
VOIDTOR – GUITAR/BASS
They wrote and performed all the music and lyrics, except for the instrumental “Enter the Solitude” and “In the Pestilent Nightmare,” which feature Setyawan Cello.
Merciless of Doom was recorded at Watchtower Studio, engineered by Bable Sagala, and it was also mixed and mastered by Bable Sagala. Credit for most of the artwork goes to Wrathvoid.
The album will be released on CD by Death In Pieces Records (Mexico), on vinyl by My Back Hurts Records (US), and on cassette by Remorseless Records (US) and Tarung Records (Indonesia). For more info, visit the locations linked below. The release is expected in late January or early February.
DRAIN DEATH:
https://haildraindeath.bandcamp.com/album/drain-death-demo-mmxxii
DEATH IN PIECES RECORDS:
https://deathinpiecesrecs.bigcartel.com/
MY BACK HURTS RECORDS:
https://www.instagram.com/my_back_hurts_recs/reels/
REMORSELESS RECORDS:
https://remorselessrecords.bandcamp.com/
TARUNG RECORDS:
https://tarungrecs.bandcamp.com/