In the new wave of old school death metal, as we would call the bands inspired by old Death, Obituary and Paradise Lost and Bolt Thrower, which often include the Swedish death metal (i.e. Dismember, Entombed, Grave, Unleashed), there’s a constant supply, which this Spanish quintet is yet another decent example of.

Come Back From The Dead is almost certainly a reference to Obituary’s 4th, come back album, "Back From The Dead" (get it?). Formed in 2008, the Galicians took their time independently releasing their first demo (2013) due to a 3 year hiatus (2009-2012), followed by the debut album, "The Coffin Earth’s Entrails" (2014) on BlackSeed Productions and "Caro Data Vermibus" EP (2017), on Mono Canibal, before finally releasing the subject of this review about a month ago. For the creation of this new, 10 track affair, the Spaniards came into concreation as Paul (vocals), Hector (guitar), Miguel (guitar), Iago (bass), and Marcos (drums) (no further identity details are available).

Most of the material sounds like Bolt Thrower and Slayer having a party in Kreator’s backyard, but they do make a decent effort to vary both the sound and the pace, while injecting a fair amount of melody. The opener, "Outcast Of The Light" is pure Swedish death metal (i.e. Dismember, Entombed, Grave, Unleashed), which I’ll bet will make a great live staple, but the best track is hands down "Martyr Of A Gruesome Demise", where Paradise Lost’s "Gothic" meets Death’s "Within The Mind", with some Megadeth-ian technical riffing, followed by the "Cause Of Death" Obituary and even more pronounced "Gothic" melodicism in "Dead March". It’s important to not only start an album well but to end it so and the Galicians do an admirable job with "Possessed By The Death" (yes, there is a demon of death according to Acts 5), where Kreator’s "Pleasure To Kill" meets Death’s "Killing Spree". Of a lesser note but still worthy are the morose Black Sabbath-ian "Seasons In The Abyss" Slayer of "Nebulaes Of Malevolent Shining" and the Grave-ly melodic "Lick My Hands Wild Beasts".

There are a few choices I find grating such as the division of "Jugular" into two unequal parts, the midpaced "Heretic Impaler" and the thrashy "The Altar Of Your Neck", whereas they would have been better off and more effective as one track. Then, there are tracks like the Unleashed-ic "Restless In Putrescence" with nothing really memorable about them, just the old chugga-chugga, goodbye.

Come Back From The Dead is a competent but not necessarily competitive representative of the current wave of old school death metal, skilled, fairly creative but not really even touching the greatness of the aforementioned predecessors. Still, if you like albums such as Death’s "Spiritual Healing" or Obituary’s "Cause Of Death", do give it a cautious whirl.

https://comebackfromthedead.bandcamp.com/