Alright, hands up, I hadn’t heard of Ripped to Shreds. Turns out the four piece of Californian-based extremists are making waves in the scene, and that Jubian is their third full length album since 2018. All of which really makes me consider them to be pretty industrious in their output, before even listening to this album. Of course, Relapse very rarely sign anyone that isn’t at least pretty good, so I was really looking forward to seeing what this album had to offer.
…and well, I wasn’t expecting this. Firstly, Ripped to Shreds are a band that describe themselves as American Born Chinese, and band leader and guitarist/vocalist and Producer Andrew Lee has explained that the music and artwork of the band are all unashamedly Chinese. The album art depicts a Taiwanese Sea Goddess, for example – not the standard fodder of Death Metal. (NB excuse us for omitting Chinese titles due to formatting constraints Ed)
Yes, this is death metal. It is, to be exact, super catchy, ultra-heavy HM-2 pedal worshipping death metal. Opener “Violent Compulsion for Conquest” comes on like the bastard child of early Dismember meeting the obscure genius of Runemagik for a knife fight. It has everything you’d want as a discerning fan of all things brutal: massively fuzzed out, downtuned guitars, a bass that sounds like the thudding of anti-aircraft batteries, the drums beating a war-like rhythm and vocals that absurdly low and guttural that the grunts bring to mind Morbid-Tales era Celtic Frost after a bin-load of cheap cider. The gnarly “Split Apart by Five Chariots” (killer name, by the way), is the most fun I’ve had listening to an old school death metal band in a very long time. The opening riff must have been designed just to put a smile on my aging face.
It’s not all bombast and grindy-death metal though (although, to be completely transparent with you, quite a lot of it is), the epic “Solitude – Sun Moon Holy Cult pt 3” for instance is a ten minute long epic that manages to also channel some progressive moments, as well as a fair component of melodic metal too. Luckily, it’s followed by the insanely catchy Bolt Thrower-on-speed absurd bombast of “Harmonious Impiety”, which channels the gonzo nature of 1989 grindcore with the straight-faced attitude of today. At two and a half minutes long, it manages to pack more memorable moments and headbanging attitude than some of their rival’s entire albums. Likewise, later, “Peregrination to the Unborn Eternal Mother” (no, I have no idea either), definitely takes that early Earache records blue print and runs with it, smashing together a whole host of influences and producing something really infectious and utterly, utterly compelling.
I took a chance on this album, but boy did it pay off. They deserve to be absolutely huge. There are riffs here that are so well written, so well placed within the context of killer songs that I simply could not wait to listen to this album again…and again…and again.
Could be album of the year. Get on it.
(9/10 Chris Davison)
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