UMUR
"I, Creator of Damnation" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Khaoz. The album was released through Mad Lion Records in January 2014. Khaoz was formed in Amersfoort, Utrecht Province in 2008 and released their debut full-length studio album "Salvation Through Bloodshed" in 2011.
Khaoz is a bit of an unconventional death metal act as they are a six-piece with two lead vocalists. A lineup choice that has great effect on the band´s overall sound. One of the vocalists delivers deep growling vocals and the other delivers higher pitched screaming vocals. Their contributions are just about equal, and they both sing on all tracks. As always with a vocal constellation like that, it´s hard not to be reminded of Carcass, and there are indeed some similarities to the more raw part of Carcass repetoire to be found on "I, Creator of Damnation".
The music on the 9 track, 35:25 minutes long album is pretty raw and to the point death metal. It´s delightfully old school, but at the same time the more contemporary yet still raw sounding production pulls in the other direction. Lack of variation between tracks becomes a slight issue about half way through the album, but listened to one by one the tracks are all good quality death metal tracks.
The fact that it´s obviously played/sung by skilled musicians isn´t exactly an issue either, and "I, Creator of Damnation" is overall a quality release by Khaoz. It´s not exactly the most innovative nor the most intriguing death metal release out there (the two vocalist feature is definitely the main attraction), but it´s certainly enjoyable for what it is and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.