This new project by a few of the guys who were or still are in hardcore grinders Homewrecker, a band I saw on tour last year supporting the now sadly defunct Weekend Nachos I was curious about where the guys would head given that their previous work was more on the grind side of music than this debut which sits festering in a pool of putrefying rancid death metal filth. Hailing from the US the band has stepped slightly outside of death metal by using five interlinking soundbites titled as numbered segues leaving five toxic and noxious songs that ooze with a decomposing malfeasance and a slight occult stench too. “Segue 1”, as it is actually titled, begins with doors creaking, screams, and backing noises that lead to a piano and if I’m honest it is a little clichéd and made me sing ‘if you go down in the woods today….”, I’m sure you get the picture. With a gritty chain sawing guitar sound ‘Chapters Of Torment’ blasts into life with a rancorous and savage assault of blast snare and crunching drums. The echo on the vocals works a treat in allowing the songs to have a horror like dread as the song dips heavily into Slayer like thrash complete with a blurring lead break which dissolves to leave an eerie female backing cry that works brilliantly to reinforce the atmosphere of the bands song writing approach.
“Segue 2” is over in 15 seconds to allow “Scaphist Waste”, which I assume is a reference to the ancient Persian torture and execution method which is possibly one of the most twisted I’ve ever read about and indicates just how depraved the human species is when intent on dishing out as much suffering as possible on another fellow human as I checked to see if any bands are called Scaphism or Scaphist and there are, one from the USA and the other from New Zealand and both active. The song bursts in with a corrosive riff and incendiary blast before lulling slightly for a new riff with accompanying bell toll and is savagely dished out. The sporadic blast phases create chaos, as the track dives into double kick amid a torrent of lead and toxic vocal vomiting. I really like the sound on this release, it is grisly, but possesses a sharpness and clarity that makes the songs that much more lethal and potent as “Segue 3” with chain noises leads into “Coffin Birth Post Mortal Fetal Extrusion” with a massive vocal scream linking into the songs grizzly riff and pounding drums. Subtlety is completely off this bands radar as the tune bludgeons the listener with insanely intense vocal screeches and bellows before dropping the song into a chasm of double bass that works perfectly in enabling the track to slow down to a slithering slime infested crawl.
“Segue 4” with its tortured screams and eerie piano and backing noises jut against the doom riddled tones of “Pit Of Morbidity”. The song languishes in a pit of lurid horror, maintaining a semi acoustic poise with the lead guitar eventually diffusing for a spoken vocal line that could be straight out of a horror flick. The song is ominously intense, even palpably creepy as the song continues with the spoken words and acoustic guitar work weaving tendrils of utter dread making you wonder where it is heading as the song erupts with beguiling female vocals drifting on the distant echo of the guitar playing bolstered by the drums and bass which blanket the song in a shroud of pervasive intent. With the segue, the noises of someone gorging are rather sickening as the noises border choking matching the releases closing title of “Internal Organ Feast” which has a massive echo on the vocals. The tune is gore metal based, similar to the likes of General Surgery and Impaled, retaining a tuneful hook and waves of double kick that serve to prop up the songs unerring guitar savagery. There is an insanity and ruggedness about this album that reminds me of Canadian band Slaughter’s “Strappado” which if you’ve never heard is a diabolically effective proto death album as this release ends calmly with an acoustic piece like coming out the other side of a waking nightmare. I hope the next release is sooner rather than later as this is my kind of death metal, disgustingly rancid and possessing outright sonic malevolence even if it is only 20 minutes long.
(8.5/10 Martin Harris)
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