UMUR
"Transcend the Dark Chaos" is an EP release by Swedish death metal act Centinex. The EP was released through Evil Shit Productions in July 1994. "Transcend the Dark Chaos" bridges the gap between the bands´s debut and sophomore full-length studio albums "Subconscious Lobotomy (1992)" and "Malleus Maleficarum (1996)". The four tracks from the EP were later included on the "Malleus Maleficarum (1996)" album, making "Transcend the Dark Chaos" a little redundant to other than the hardcore collectors.
Stylistically the material on "Transcend the Dark Chaos" is old school Swedish death metal, which is pretty raw and simple, and don´t stick out much from other contemporary albums in the same style. Centinex used drum programming on many of their succeeding 90s releases, but "Transcend the Dark Chaos" features a human drummer in Joakim Gustavsson (who also played on "Subconscious Lobotomy (1992)").
"Transcend the Dark Chaos" features a raw, slightly murky, and pretty savage sounding production. It´s got a demo sound quality to it, but it suits the material well, and isn´t bad sounding or anything like that. Details are audible in the mix, and this type of music would not have benefitted from a more polished production. Upon conclusion "Transcend the Dark Chaos" is a decent quality death metal EP, but Centinex at this point still lacked something to make them unique. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.