I’m a bit of a sucker for New York area death metal. Following in the footsteps of Internal Bleeding and Pig Destroyer come Vomit Forth. Promising layers, the band has released a couple of demos, a couple of EP’s and now it’s time for their first full album release.
The eerie intro seems a bit of a gesture. The seething malevolence itself starts with “Eucharist Intact”. We are thrown from pillar to post by customary deep growls and vibrating sound effects. “Pain Tolerance” is more measured and sludgy. Always heavy, the riff is dirty and the distant screams of pain sum up the ambiance, which is that of being murdered in a dark alleyway. Dual screams and growls splatter the uncompromising “Tortured Sacrament”. One thing I do like is the emergent ghostly sounds including hints of a siren which gives the album an added urban flavour. But its core is downtrodden brutality, which harsh as it is, in its solidity is pleasing to listen to – well, maybe not for some. “Unrecognizable” starts as a maelstrom of brutal grinding, before taking us down a grisly path and leading us down others of a no less murderous variety. Ending again with the ghostly sound, “Unrecognizable” is musically a track of much colour and interest – the layers, I suppose.
It’s a rare thing on a death metal album that you recognise the words and as “Eucharist Intact” earlier I recognised in “Seething Malevolence” the song title. Grinding forward at pace, the whole thing speaks of anger and attack. The riff as usual is deep and solid. The hammering assault continues with “Severely Wounded” before the faster-paced twirly “Carnivorous Incantation” takes over, offering nothing but harsh grimness and a few more hypnotic and weighty guitar lines. Prepare to be battered seems to be the message. “I Feel Nothing” provides a surprising a short outer worldly experience before we’re back to more chainsaw hammering in the form of “Predatory Savior”. Vomit Forth vomit forth with classic death metal drums and a sinister line of attack. “I feel nothing”, they scream. After this weighty assault they probably feel numb. Just “Pious Floor Killing to go, and as the title suggests there’s nothing bright and breezy about it. Instead the riff pins us pushes us into the ground. A voice is heard. It sounds as if they are screaming in terror. The thumping riff runs on mercilessly. Now it descends into doom. I wasn’t expecting that, but then this band isn’t straight up in its musical style. Vomit Forth like their atmospherics and we return to the floaty electric storm that we had at the beginning.
They’re right. This does have layers. Before all else, let’s not get away from the fact that this is brutal death metal, but it’s not uniform. A lot happens in just under half an hour. The structures of these songs are of course solid and heavy but with tempo and direction changes and a good use of sound effects to create added urban horror, “Seething Malevolence” is an accomplished and interesting album.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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