Review by Nathan on August 28, 2023.

I like OSDM revival stuff as much as the next guy (perhaps even a little bit more) and Undergang combines that low-end filth with some trademark Danish bounce. This type of brutish, trudging, midpaced stuff has been established at this point, but to be fair, the band has been plugging away at it for over 10 years. They burst on the scene knowing exactly what they wanted to be - a filthy, groovy death metal band - and they haven’t stopped doing that. With Misantropologi being the fourth in a catalogue filled with tons of thick chugs, super-low toilet gurgles and the occasional despondent break. Misantropologi seems like a safe bet to be a steady banger in the “slow-ish death metal that isn’t death/doom” niche.

If nothing else, Undergang is a lot more refined on this album. Where an album like Indhentet Af Døden is a bit looser with its songwriting and riff choices, at this point, Undergang knows what an “Undergang riff” sounds like, they’ve played some live sets and seen what the crowd reacts to, and I imagine that influences your writing in trying to distill songs only to those elements. The problem is, you can’t mosh for an entire set, and in the songs on Misantropologi being distilled down to more basic elements, they lose the more dynamic energy and variety that the early stuff had. Not to say that they used to write sprawling, multi-genre mashups, far from it, I just think that time clarifying the band’s aesthetic has also, in turn, restricted their creativity with the project a bit.

Misantropologi brings nothing new to the table. That was never a bad thing before, but at this point it sounds like the band is bored with their own ideas. Recycling ideas isn’t a terrible thing in principle, but it definitely serves as a weakness if the delivery isn’t enticing enough. The production isn’t helping matters much; the band used to have a very natural, wet feel to their music, but Misantropologi is a lot buzzier and doesn’t capture the heaviness as well. The vocals sound fried, moany, and contribute a great deal to the sleepy vibe the album produces, which might actually be a product of them being pushed to the forefront of the mix. David Torturdod has one of the lowest lows in death metal, and Misantropologi makes him sound weak and burpy. Many of the riff changes, sudden blast breaks and doomy drops feel almost obligatory, like the band wanted to write something else but realized that Undergang doesn’t write songs like that and then just referred to an idea they had used before. It’s a very intangible and subjective thing, I know, but early Undergang sounded like they were actually having some fun with it, and this feels rushed and hastily assembled. Most of the songs are short, punchy, and don’t really tie into one another much, but even Doden laeger alle sar had more cohesion, and it addition, it sounds better and was recorded at the same studio! When you put it all better, Misantropologi sound noticeably more confused and uninspired than the band’s back catalog, and I’m not sure what exactly happened. Bad batch of drugs in the studio?

At their best, Undergang is a solid addition to any caevman riffmeister’s catalog, but I would definitely not start with Misantrolpologi. It doesn’t do much of interest in a saturated and samey genre, and the band themselves has very similar ideas played in a more convincing and engaging way on previous full-lengths. Best to pass on this unless you’re really sure you’ll listen to anything this band does, even if Misantropologi sounds like a bunch of tracks that were scrapped in the studio during past album recordings.

Rating: 4.3 out of 10