I love split albums whether it’s two acts or in this case five showcasing the huge amount of brutally talented bands the UK has to offer in extreme metal. This split has Northern England nutters Foetal Juice, serial killer metal from Basement Torture Killings, Cornwall crushers Decimation, filth mongers Zombified and brutalising old hands Nailed from Yorkshire.
This whole split starts with Foetal Juice who I’ve seen a few times live and are damn funny with silly song introductions of the depraved variety alongside some other witty repartees the band often announces on stage. On a record the band has a stripped back sound with a raw vicious guitar hook on “Introjuice”. The stripped back sound also makes the songs have a demo like quality which is in no way a criticism just a sound anecdote. This opener is like an instrumental with sound samples being used for lyrics before the silly titled “Colostomy Baguette” signals the grind death blast using the stalwart tin can snare drum sound that typifies the genre. There is little in the way of groundbreaking material but with “Reel Big Fish” tearing a sizeable new one with its straight blurring death metal bombardment this is crunch drenched savagery all the way.
http://www.facebook.com/FoetalJuice
Basement Torture Killings is another outfit whose uniqueness is underpinned by their stage show as well, with serial killer fixation creating psychopathic and murderous songs for the band to intimidate their audiences with whilst wearing lounge apparel of cardigans and tank tops. As ever a short sample starts their section which takes the listener through a homicidal rampage of blisteringly fast death metal similar to Exhumed and old Aborted. This viciousness is personified amply on “Dr Eugenes Smile” as the tasteless “24 Hour Convenience Store Beheading” is about the woman who was decapitated by a maniac in Tenerife and has a suitably grisly news sample to start it. This is aggressively played with little let up during the riff and blasting style with “The Whitechapel Murders” being an insane barrage of ferociousness.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Basement-Torture-Killings/106420996271
Cornwall doesn’t seem like a place for spawning monstrously heavy death metal but here we have a five piece called Decimation who is unfamiliar to me but play Cannibal Corpse inspired deathliness that is abominably effective. The dense sound afforded has that chest caving implosion feel on the double bass and is used devastatingly well. Digesting this bands tunes is easier than swallowing raw liver, they are highly accessible and also they harness the likes of Slayer riffing and even the thunderous approach of someone like Blood Red Throne for the hook laden playing that is certain to give those well worn neck muscles some action on “The Proliferation”. “Revulsion” is a little slower with a powerful hammering approach, which if you like Cannibal Corpse then you’ll like this just as much.
http://www.facebook.com/decimationuk
Zombified is another act I am familiar with as both of their previous releases take proud place in the ‘z’ section of my collection. This bands three song invasion has one of the best productions as the vocal vomiting that begins “Of Sadist And Surgeon” is ultra low and accompanied by glass shattering screams. The riff that gets the song underway is awesome and supremely pulverising with a sledgehammer to the cranium approach on display in their songs. The guitar is violently played with each hook like the slashing of some sadistic lunatic on a killing spree. Into “Circle Of Parasites” and here the flattening takes on an Immolation stance where the listener is subject to a relentless but very enjoyable auditory mauling leaving only their closer “Immolation Race” which bulldozes straight ahead with no compromise.
Nailed are well established relative to the rest of this bands on this split with four cuts from their last album “The Spire Of Sins” being included with hugely noticeable differences the production. Unleashing a wall of penetrating deathliness is what Nailed’s skull smashing tracks are all about. This is as vicious as it comes in death metal with each tune offering a mix of technical style butchery amongst the more traditional death metal gruesomeness. “Devoid Of Humanity” is utterly demolishing from the start with fret board beastliness being unleashed continually. There are huge similarities to Cattle Decapitation for the blasting style with Severe Torture also being a reference point for the battering riff style. There is absolutely no let up with these merciless death metal songs ending this top quality split album in ultra fierce manner.
http://www.facebook.com/NAILEDDEATHMETAL
8/10 (Martin Harris)
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