From Memphis, TN comes this thrashy death metal masterpiece. Featuring members of the death metal band Incarnation plus the original guitarist from the almighty His Hero Is Gone (I know, right?!!?) you know you want to hear this (or fucking not, I guess, nerd). Admittedly I am most familiar with HHIG, and I can hear some similarities. This is alternately fucking heavy and blastingly speedy with deep, growly vocals. No lyric sheet is included, but with song titles like Gravewalker, Silver Tongue and Mellifluous it is safe to say that we are no longer in the realm of political hardcore (that HHIG is so known for). If the cover is any indication, we are into the realm of fantasy with Egyptian style Jackal-men, volcanoes and hell-circus contortionists. Doesn’t make any difference to me, really, as the sound of this band hits the sweet spot between groove and violence. Speaking of the cover, if you’re a HHIG nerd at all, it may interest you to know that Carl (who did the HHIG 7″ cover as well as the Fifteen counts of Arson cover) painted this one, too. This is definitely thrashier than HHIG while retaining melody and guts.
Spinning at 45 the 7 tracks on this record zip past. Just when you are settling in to the evil, either there is a time change or the song is over (this is potentially my bias, been listening to a lot of stoner shit lately). But I suppose it is better to leave them wanting more than to overstay your welcome. I’m not sure I buy the “grind” descriptor that the label uses in their sales pitch/description, but there are songs when I am almost convinced. At moments I am reminded of Black Army Jacket, which is never a bad thing…
Heavy. Loud. Fast. Evil. Dark. Brutal. I forgot my thesaurus, so you can look up or insert your favorite synonyms yourself.
Released on the label Blak Skul, this is BS-007. Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with this Missouri based label and I don’t recognize the bands on their other releases, but I have to say, I am intrigued after listening to this over the last month.
Would love to catch these guys live
If this intrigues you (or if you might like to check it out in spite of my ramblings) click this link and support a killer band
https://blakskul.bigcartel.com/
