Cemetery Reign Confined To Time Review
Cemetery Reign
Confined to Time
Carbonized Records
2026
In 2026, it's sometimes strange to look back on what became the global COVID pandemic. Many were confined to their homes, whether by work mandates or because their workplace effectively shut down along with everything else. The times were hard, and we all had to adapt. This was true for many bands, promoters, and venues too. Bands had to cancel tours, studio dates, and clubs shut down either temporarily or fully. It was a very uncertain time to be a musician. However, some took that downtime and ran with it. Such is the case with Cemetery Reign, a project that began in the throes of those troubled times. Thanks to the hellscape that was 2020–2022, we have their debut full-length, Confined In Time.
Cemetery Reign is a solo death metal project created by “the depressed and deteriorated mind of David McMaster, riff menace in Street Tombs and drum punisher in Superstition.” This macabre entity is based out of Northern New Mexico, and they have both feet firmly planted in the rotten soil of late ’80s/early ’90s death metal, so they are old-school to the bone. Over the last three years, there seems to be an appreciation of the more meat-and-potatoes sounds from those days by the younger crowd, not unlike the influx of thrash fanatics in 2007–2009. I am all about it. Confined In Time was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Augustine Ortiz at The Decibel Foundry and The Kitchen Sink in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mix is bass-heavy, grimy, and murky, with plenty of punch in the guitars, bass, and drums, and cavernous low growled vocals. There is no polish here; it's raw, every instrument is discernible, and it's devastatingly heavy. McMaster, unless I'm missing it in the press release, recorded everything himself, recording riffs to his phone and then laying down drums on the spot and changing them as the arrangements needed. That's an admirable work ethic, and it doesn't sound like a one-man band, but a fully operational unit, which is also impressive.
So, what of the songs then? Well, we get nine of them, and they seem to average four to five minutes, save for the opener “Escape Survival,” which acts almost as an intro at 1:47, and “Infernal Punishment” near the end at 3:18. This is often plodding mid-paced chug (“Pendulum Clock”) with foreboding riffs (“Grave Depression”) and an overall sense of dread intact, with the requisite fast parts smattered here and there (“Captive In A Coffin”). Lyrical themes seem to focus on “war, apocalyptic devastation, suicidal depression, and psychedelic-death insanity happening above, beneath, and beyond the funeral grounds of Earth.” So, that said, these are not happy tunes, they are angry, gritty, and hateful. Perhaps a proper description would be cold and atmospheric. This is to be enjoyed by those who have strong misanthropic tendencies, and realistically, that's kind of all of us right now.
Cemetery Reign is not interested in reinventing the genre or pushing it forward. What they do best is hearken back to the days when death metal was its most primal and dangerous. After hearing this record, I can fully ascertain they've succeeded and, quite frankly, are doing it better than most. I'm excited to see this evolve (a full lineup for live shows this year is being assembled as I write this) and rank them among the OSDM revival’s best. Bloody, baring teeth, and grave-robbing the entire time. Sometimes, death is only the beginning…
-TB
RIYL-Carcass, Autopsy, Grave, Asphyx, Nihilist, Sepultura, Demigod, Bolt Thrower, and Incantation.