UMUR
"Wrecked" is the 2nd demo cassette tape by Danish death metal act Nations of Death. The demo was independently released in 1993. The band were formed in 1991 in Roskilde and they released their first demo tape "No One is Divine" later that same year. Nations of Death was a relatively short lived act and they only released "No One is Divine" and "Wrecked" before disbanding. Drummer Jesper Frost later played with prolific Danish death metal act Iniquity.
Stylistically the 4 track, 18:05 minutes long demo is firmly rooted in old school death metal, but of the technically well played kind. It´s not technical death metal as such though, but it´s obvious that Nations of Death are a very well playing band. "Wrecked" is also relatively well produced for a demo, so it´s in the songwriting department where Nations of Death don´t quite cut it. The basic quality of the songwriting is decent, and there´s nothing terrible or unlistenable on the demo. The issue here is that the 4 tracks sound very much alike, and that they feature almost nothing catchy or memorable. It´s enjoyable enough while it plays, but soon forgotten when it´s over.
The almost complete lack of anything melodic (which isn´t necessarily a problem in itself), and the monotone growling vocal delivery do not help on the memorability of the music. Although I realize my review comes off as rather negative, "Wrecked" actually is a decent quality death metal demo, and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong. It´s just a very standard quality death metal demo, that doesn´t display a band with a unique sound or a band with the ability to deliver that extra, which could have gotten them noticed by a label.