The number of Metal bands that I do know from Liechtenstein, a country sweetly floating in between Switzerland and Austria, is very limited, especially when it comes to ‘my kind’ of Metal. There are a couple of acts I do like within the Dark Goth / Ambient / Classical genre (WeltenBrand and the likes), and we do / did have bands / projects like Elis / Erben Der Schöpfung, but when it comes to Death / Black / Funeral Doom / … material, this country remains quasi-virginal. Liechtenstein isn’t but a very small country, of course.
The only band I do know playing Death Metal is Dark Salvation, hailing from this country’s capital, Vaduz. The band is little known outside the Alpine regions, even though there was a first full length in 2010 (Bärgthron).
Ignoring the evolution in professionalism and craftsmanship, Der Letzte Weg is only little different from the debut. Main difference might be the new singer, Gianluca Teofani (he was the guitar player before), and even though he isn’t the most original or impressing grunter I’ve heard, he does a great job on this full length.
The album brings a very fresh-sounding, modern form of technical and melodic Death Metal, rather guitar driven and powerfully rhythmic. There’s not one single moment of originality, but in general this stuff is acceptable because of the decent production (even though I think it might be too clean and polished), the skilled performance and the fiery atmosphere. It’s evident that this band’s approach is comparable to the Swiss, Austrian and German scene. Nonetheless Dark Salvation perform with a specific refreshing approach, which I will refer to the progressive touch. Especially the leads do breathe this opinion.
Oh yes, this album was mastered by Andy Classen at his Stage One Studio, and mix + engineering were taken care of by Oliver Falk – think WeltenBrand or Erben Der Schöpfung – at the Devils Sound Studio.