Cryptborn - In the Grasp of the Starving Dead (2011)

  Similar to Torture Pulse, Cryptborn was also more fascinated by the old school Swedish buzzsaw sound, than the different approach of the Finnish scene.
   But even though for first hearing their debut EP definitely sounds quite like Swedish death metal, there are some small features to find, that suspecting that in summary "In the Grasp of the Starving Dead" is more like a hybride, than some loyal, accure follower. There is some lingering obscureness about the the EP, that shows up by the common doom-like slow downs and assisted by very deep growling vocal style, that reminds somehow to early Acid Witch. Usually strict thrash speed is like an essential feature for ordinary Swedish death, but with time it proved to be more effective combined with the intensity of grindore or the heaviness of doom. Cryptborn have chosen the second path, but speed ups are still enough frequent to not push the scale completely into death/doom. On the side of the heaviness, the other advantage of the slow/middle speed switches is that they gave some space for simple leading melodies, that are more usual in Finnish death metal. The bass lines also could be heard well the same time and these seemingly small features strongly increasing the EP's enjoyability. In total Cryptborn really done it well, "'In the Grasp of the Starving Dead" was a very stunning debut.