Survivors Zero - CMXCIX (2009)

The Helsinki, Finland death metal band known as Survivors Zero first came to my attention back in mid-2010 when they were set to open on the, 'Finnish Metal Tour' across America with Swallow the Sun, Moonsorrow and Finntroll, but either they didn't play at the gig I attended or they never were actually on the bill. Who knows, but what I do know is a few months ago I came across this album at a used shop for a mere $4 and thought, "Fuck it, why not," and I picked it up.

Survivors Zero was founded by ex-Aeon guitarist (now producer at Studio Perkele) Sami Jämsén who quickly secured a line-up with various other semi known Finnish musicians, such as bassist Tapio Wilska (Finntroll, Nightwish) vocalist Tommi Virranta (Winterwolf, Deathchain) as well as lead axman, Jani Luttinen and drummer, Seppo Tarvainen.

Musically, 'CMXCIX' straddles the border between modern straight forward death metal with a good amount of melody, catchiness, energy and a fantastic drive behind their tunes. I know I've been using words like that a lot lately, but I guess I've just been fortunate to be purchasing death metal records that have that sort of feeling within them. Although some songs do have some slower Morbid Angel-ish parts that are also killer and I really enjoy the way they sometimes shift between the slower sections into faster territories. Each song clocks in at a little under or a little over four minutes, which means the album only runs for a little under forty minutes too, but its quite impressive the amount of cool riffs found in these songs and the fact that each one has a superb but quick solo present only makes them stronger.

The vocals range from typical death metal growls to even more typical melodic death metal vocals, but they are by no means poorly performed, in fact Tommi does a a great job, always sounding pissed off and totally brutal on his vocal warpath. There are also a few chorus parts, which were popping up in my brain later that kept me coming back to this album for another serving. Seppo's drumming is also notable since there are plenty of fills and roaring fast double bass work, and although the bassist isn't always heard that well the production is actually quite crisp and audible, but I wouldn't expect anything less from a metal producer. The booklet artwork is pretty solid too, although I think the bands logo looks metalcore, and that's a bit lame if you ask me, but oh well.

That being said, I'd say, 'CMXCIX' is a solid death metal offering, which probably wont appeal to strict death metal fanatics, but if you can imagine a normal death metal act mixed with bands like Hypocrisy and Kalmah you'll be on your way to understanding what these guys do. Therefore for those that enjoy melody in their death metal you'd be advised to definitely check this bands output.