Firstly, if you like Vomitor, just buy this already. They still sound like Vomitor so you’ll be happy as pigs in shit. But wait! Some people haven’t heard them! Well I shall guide you to the light… er dark and…. er..oh watch for that… Whoops, too late. I think that might stain a little, mate.
I think it’s fair to say that Australia has, curiously for a place that flogs itself to the world as sun, sand and shit lager, become a real swamp of some of the dirtiest, most primitive, most fucked up metal around and if you pull on your industrial rubber gloves and delve around near the bottom you will find Vomitor.
Opening with an extended guitar noise, we are then dumped into the primal metal chaos of ‘Pitch Black’; Hellhammer road drill riffs, barked vocals and total, glorious racket. You see when the primordial progenitors of black and death metal ceased to stalk the land, the protectors of public decency capped the foul smelling well head. Luckily they bodged the job and left enough room for Vomitor to leak out. Looking like extras from a bad eighties biker movie, all denim cut-odds, shoulder slung bullet belts and (alas) WWII SS helmets they play a thick, black tar version of metal: death, black, thrash and pig squealing guitar runs all wrapped up together with…er.. vomited vocals and a gloriously malignant bestial attitude. And they are so good at it too. Messrs Anton Vomit, HarmonyHellkunt and Deathv Dealer are a class act.
That is the kicker: These lunatics know exactly what they’re doing and how to do it. So good that Horror Illogium from the insane asylum that is the mighty Portal has been lending a few guitars here and there live too recently. There are some fantastic, primitive, vile riffs beneath this racket: Not just the ones that break the surface in tracks like the excellent ‘Metal Or Die’ but in the shifting tempos of ‘Salem Witch Grave’ and outbursts in ‘Hellburst To Fight’. Seriously, they play a fine blend of death and bestial black metal but never let go of that original Venom, Hellhammer, Bathory, Repulsion motherload. ‘Horrors Of Black Earth’ has a great, almost punk metal horror riff that despite the hook still is grounded firmly in that metal filth and comes out growling death metal.
Sometimes they play at a thumping, pounding, ponderous pace, heavy as lead but with a push on the accelerator and a squeal on the guitar they can peal off into a fine tight dearth metal thrash as on the title track. They also understand impact: Seven songs and not much over half an hour may sound short to Dream Theatre fans but it’s the right and proper length for this slab off violence. Get in there, smash a few skulls, get out.
Vomitor: Noisy, primitive, more grunt than a tank made of pig iron. Metal or die indeed. Magic.
(8.5/10 Gizmo)
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