Ontario’s Six of Swords bring some heavy, groovy and brutal punishment with their latest beast, “Regime Decay – Polar Vortex.,” which is a pairing of their first two EPs. While playing old school Death Metal has become popular in the extreme metal scene in recent years, Six of Swords manages to retain the old school vibe while still managing to include plenty of modern Death Metal elements. Think Morbid Angel meets Gatecreeper and you’ll get a good idea of what Six of Swords is trying (and succeeding) to accomplish.
What makes this a great listen is the amount of variety with each track. With that being said, there is not anything fancy or over the top to be found here. No blast beats, no break downs and no overly complicated or technical guitar riffs. No. This is just some down and dirty Death Metal. Sometimes, simpler is better. Some songs are full of complete brutality, while others chug along with some fantastic grooves. This is where Six of Swords excels. When they slow things down, they lay down some incredibly heavy stuff with great riffs and sick vocals. Vocalist Josh Gordon kills it on this release. If you dig on Doom Metal, you are gonna love some of this serious sick and sludgy material. If you aren’t a fan of Doo, there is still plenty of Thrashy and speed to keep you raging here and sending you straight into the pit.