Doombringer

The death of Nasum frontman Mieszko Talarczyk in the 2004 tsunami disaster was a bizarre and tragic blow that, among other consequences, forced the group to disband. Doombringer, a live recording, is the second release to come in the wake of Talarczyk's passing, following 2005's two-disc extravaganza Grind Finale, which covered all of the band's non-album studio releases. Doombringer, on the other hand, is much more brief, clocking in at around 24 minutes, although the band still manages to cram 16 songs into that abbreviated span. There are three tracks from Inhale/Exhale and six each from Human 2.0 and Helvete (with the remaining track, "Löpandebandsprincipen," eventually appearing on disc one of Grind Finale). The material here is strong, and the performances seem to be "on" as well, but unfortunately, the listening experience is marred by some rather subpar sound quality. The guitars and bass, in particular, are muddy and lacking in definition. One of the main strengths of their studio recordings was the sculpted, sandblasting sound of Talarczyk's production jobs. No live album is going to have that level of production, but Doombringer doesn't even sound like it was originally intended to be released as a live album. Rather, the recordings sound like they were merely salvaged and released in the absence of any better live recordings. As an attempted souvenir, it's a nice gesture, but fans of the band (as well as other interested parties) would be much better served by getting hold of their excellent studio albums from earlier in the decade (especially Human 2.0, Helvete, and Shift) along with the Grind Finale compilation before picking up this one.