And who could blame the disgruntled mutant mobs forming, thrashing their automatic weaponry in the air and howling like apes? — Taking the all-too reasonable leap from the paranoid delusions, horrifying human experimentation and ceaseless war crimes of the Cold War era and applying the havoc of collapsing empires to the imagined apocalyptic warfare at world’s demise Los Angeles, California-area death metal quintet Kommand rally we increasingly callous hordes to witness our collective absurdity in theatre of war on this second pit-readied full-length. ‘Death Age‘ is all churn, all burn and once again disaffected beyond belief in view of our impending doom. In this case the no bullshit, simple yet effective approach to referential ‘old school’ influenced death metal yields just enough action to engage the riff-brain of even the most jaded among us.

Kommand formed back in 2015 between ex-members of Sacramento/Los Angeles area hardcore punk groups Aerosols, Hoax, Trash Talk and Lock who’d assumedly gigged up for the sake of approaching the bigger crowds forming around death metal/hardcore fusion groups of the era. Their original sound wasn’t that far off from what they’re up to today though drummer Sam Bosson (Paranoiac) has notably lain off the war metallic bursts with each successive release with ‘Demo 2016‘ (2017) being a moderate connection between simple ‘Scream Bloody Gore‘-esque guitar progressions, thrashing pace and drops into Bolt Thrower semblant grooves. Of course you can guess which half of the equation they’d leaned into the moment ‘Demo 2018‘ begins chopping into its first set of tank metallic riffs. As far as I can tell that second demo was the first to feature guitarist Sam Shriver of Mortal Wound and I suppose the notable thing on that tape was the leads, most of ’em wailing divebombs which’d been righteously set. For such a simply put sound in an era of “caveman” death metal hustlers abounding, sure, they were full-length ready on that second demo as far as just cracking off a product.

When ‘Terrorscape‘ released back in 2020 I’d initially overlooked it thinking it was a new release from a similarly named Seattle-area black/thrash metal band, eventually catching up with their gig after reading the album had been influenced by Finnish death metal, which was plausible enough. Songs like “Siege” and “Radiation” brought some some change-ups in leads and whatnot but that whole record had a sort of barreling ‘In Battle There is No Law‘ feeling to it otherwise, a cold and hapless corridor of unaffected death metal that’d barely scratched ~25 minutes. It was a linear walk towards a relatively plain death sensation and that straight forward approach included far less embellishment with leads compared to their 2018 demo. At the time we didn’t hear much about it beyond the Maggot Stomp stable, though the appeal was obvious within the hardcore influenced death metal side of things (Frozen Soul, Creeping Death, etc.) with a heap of ‘IVth Crusade‘-esque movement in tow. I didn’t intend to belabor my notes on that debut LP but it definitely builds important precedence for any conversation on ‘Death Age‘ as this follow-up is iterative upon that same style, at that same pace.

The first question any self-respecting er, the average death metal enjoyer should be asking themselves is probably “They got any riffs?” and sure quality over quantity, generally speaking. The whole Kommand gig is airtight and they definitely pull this stuff off in a live setting with style, so, it makes good sense that they stick with less adventurous compositions for the sake of freaking out on ’em in motion. Just don’t go into ‘Death Age‘ expecting technical wizardry beyond a knack for grooves built on progression, a signature which is most often associated with a certain British death metal band I’ve namedropped too many times already. They’ve stopped well short of plainest mosh metal grooves you’ve all heard before and thankfully now bring back some of the coloration of their 2018 demo with a handful more quick-change riffs and classic death metal lead guitar work this time around. “Chimera Soldiers” sets up these expectations clearly enough with an almost too on the nose ‘…For Victory‘ groove established from its opening moments. The production values here aren’t quite as seamlessly achieved as say, labelmates Vastum but the effect is similar for the sake of the cacophonic reverb on Jesse Sanes‘ vocals, a few inspired leads (“Polar Holdout”), and the pace change in the last third of the song which keeps it popping with enough tricks to hold interest.

It’d taken something like ten full listens to start to pick up on the most key nuances on ‘Death Age‘ and probably moreso for the sake of bargaining through this sensation that I’d heard it all before as I’d intend to give Kommand a fair shot. Another well chosen single, “Global Death“, does a fine job of showcasing the songcraft available to the band at this point with a sharp yet uncomplicated leading riff, a half-blasted sidebar and the variations available to it ’til the thrashed-at step up arrives around ~3:25 minutes in to finish the thought. While it might not seem like such a big feat on paper there is something to be said for each of those moments not only making sense together but all of it reading as a driven death metal machine proper. The gist of it is that as we begin asking the big question (“What is special about this band?“) it’d have to be that they’ve always got an idea behind this referential sound, there is always a sensical pathway forged and none of it sounds cranked out with an “eh, good enough” attitude. There is a fair argument that it’ll all feel brutally underthought for mid-paced death metal standards with the greater canon in mind but in this particular nowadays niche, these guys are basically predator class.

Side B has a few more thrills for my taste between the blast-off of “Fleeing Western Territories” and its eerie leads brings back the intent and sensation of ‘Terrorscape’ in an even more effective piece with a well-set sort of d-beat kick in the middle portion of the song. It’d caught my ear most often on the full listen before “Collapse Metropolis” closed the show with equally riotous gear and to start and a very slow-chug towards the endpoint once a certain threshold is reached. The full listen is rousing but short, once again threatening to bore a hole in the skull of folks who aren’t up for pure tunnel vision ‘old school’ influenced death metal which keeps its head down beyond a few shredding moments. While I’d felt this record was generally above average I do have to acknowledge the relatively bare standard of today, such simplicity demands something more deeply memorable and this is the main reason I wasn’t floored by this one after countless listens. That said I think they’ve at least picked some of their best traits back up beyond the demo stage and given us a record which smokes hot in the moment even if it doesn’t leave a too permanent dent in the mind. A completely viable, solid sophomore LP but I think they’ve way more potential to push in the future. A moderately high recommendation.

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