MARTYRDOD

A few years back I came across this band by chance. I was at a local record shop Soundcentral and I saw their album "In Extremis" and was drawn to it because of the artwork. It was minimal but evil looking, slightly reminiscent of Chris Norris of Combatwoundedveteran's artwork. I figured I would give it a listen. I was very pleasantly surprised at the instant hold it had on me. So heavy, so evil, so melodic, I loved it. I honestly feel that Martyrdod (who I later learned share a member of Skitsystem) are my favorite and a leader in their genre.

Martyrdod are the definition of blackened crust but the magnitude of their melodies, I would say are almost unheard of in this genre. They released their first LP the "Self Titled" in 2003 and it is has a slightly more black metal feeling at least in the vocals but still maintains a serious amount of crustiness. Then came a split 7" the "We Walk the Line" EP with Sunday Morning Einsteins in 2004. Honestly not their best recordings but still awesome. This was followed by the "In Extremis" LP which is what got me into them is tough as nails, balls to the walls crust that is just so god damn catchy. Does that even make sense? The most recently released was the "Sekt" LP, which was in this past year. I just heard this for the first time the other day and I must say I am impressed but it is not my favorite of their releases. However I am expecting it to grown on me.

Their recordings are pretty much all consistently excellent and powerful as fuck! So seriously, if you are into melodic crust and black metal this band is a must check out. You can find the links just below to all of three of their full lengths LPs and the two songs from the split EP.

Link to "Self Titled" LP
Link to "We Walk in Line" EP split
Link to "In Extremis" LP
Link to "Sekt" LP