Metal Minis #2 - Doombringer - Wormridden

Doombringer – Sevenfold Pestilence [Ep]

Polish death metal vandals Doombringer are new to me. They’ve had a couple of demos before exhaling this, their two track debut EP; an engrossing splatter of well balanced and chugging death metal with a nice, witty black metal overtone engulfing it. Unlike some other black/death bands I’ve encountered in previous years (Antediluvian, Impetuous Ritual, Muknal, Portal, etc), they don’t really bore and drill into your brain deep enough to leave a permanent mark, meaning they exclude ethereal, cathartic expressions of black metal, and formulate a rather simpler, more direct style of crunchy death metal, with a sprinkling of black metal to add a bit of a spice to the aura, as I stated. Nonetheless, the music is still not something to be interfered, for its wroth and wrath is deadly and cunning once released. The sound is really not arduous or complex, but I still can’t relate it to a singular sound. Few segments remind me of classic Incantation tremolos that even fall into early Morbid Angel territory at times, while some sections are doused with a pungent, chaotic black/death stench, like a reminiscent of Blasphemy or Gospel Of The Horns, but again, not relation is fully accurate. All I can really say is that sound is buttery and dark, old school and cryptic, and many death and war metal fans will fall for this. No doubt.

Wormridden – Infesting The Graves [Demo]

I came across with some very efficient death/doom acts this year like Undergang, Witchrist (even though it’s not purely death/doom) or Macabra, and even a few other like Funebrarum which left their mark in the previous years, and although Japan’s Wormridden display only eleven minutes of their work on their debut demo, the music I heard was sufficient enough to convince me. You can call it a crusty Autopsy, a second Rottrevore or and even filthier version of Incantation; you can call it many things, but the one thing that you can be certain of is that Wormridden produce an ultra heavy slab of festering, cauterizing death/doom, still reeking of filth and abominable 90’s death metal. The sheer level of putrefaction on this two track demo is enough carve you anew nose hole, and the whole of the riffs are so dipped and drenched in murky grittiness and fermenting grossness, that you’d probably be overwhelmed by its heft only. The demo has wide arsenal of crushing, monolithic riffs, and you’ve got the tempo variation set as well. First you’re dealing with gigantic doom metal stomps, while all of a sudden, a rambunctious outburst of buzzy tremolos split your torso wide open, and then the riffs make final, excruciating descent into a mid paced riff, slithering and spreading vile stench all around. This demo is top notch, even though it only lasts for near ten minutes, but I’ll guarantee fans of Winter, Disembowelment, Salem, Asphyx, Autopsy, Rottrevore and Purtenance a totally crushing and enjoyable listen.

Doombringer: 8/10

Wormridden: 8.50/10

Metal Minis #1 - Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - Uncanny

This is the first of the ''metal minis'' series wherein I will shortly review EPs or demos that I can't find much to say about. I will generally review two releases in each part of the series, though sometimes I may review more than two releases. It's really up to me.

The names up there in the title are not release names, but the names of the bands that have released the demo/Ep that I am to review. So now, I give you two fantastic bands:

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross - The Plutonian Drug/Starfire Communion [Split]

Here, we have a two way split done with two Australian bands; Innsmouth and Mongrel's Cross. Mongrel's Cross already impressed me beyond belief with the release of their debut full-length, ''The Sins Of Aquarius'', a filthy chunk of spiteful blackened death/thrash with tons of crust and cunning, but Innsmouth are a stranger to me, and if truth be told, the only reason I was drawn towards Innsmouth at first was because their name and content reeked of Lovecraft, and ''Shadow Over Innsmouth'' has to be one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Books aside, Innsmouth play some seriously heavy, buzz-driven filthy Finnish death metal for the most part, and their brand of old school death metal is surprisingly catchy, melancholic and distorted. There's a heavy stench of Finnish death metal snatched from bands like early Sentenced, Purtenance, Convulse, Abhorrence and alike, flourished with a raw production tone,again, resembling the Finnish death metal bands. Mongrel's Cross also bend towards a more raw and blackened overtone, disposing of the heavy death metal influence that was present on the debut album and leaving dirty, crusty thrash with a chaotic black metal spice on top of it, just the way old schoolers like it. Innsmouth have enough material to make a full-length, and I'm already highly content with the Mongrel's Cross album, so we'll just have to wait while salivating over the thought of a new album.

Uncanny - Path Of The Flesh [EP]

Ah, yes. The Swedish death metal trend continues to spread across the circulatory system of the metal universe like an infectious disease, so common that many already show symptoms of the plague, but fortunately this time we have a band who's actually among giants like Entombed, Dismember and Grave as Uncanny had their debut album released way back, in 1994. So thankfully, they're not exactly imitating anyone, bu they're not exactly bringing fresh meat to the butcher either. Nonetheless, I have a substantial amount of respect of chainsaw oriented madness with the corpulent and copious guitar tone, and Uncanny are inserting a very good measure of groove into their music, sensationally pummeling the listener whilst driving neck towards the edge to destruction. It's frantic and it's still rotten, and even if you don't enjoy this sort of music that the current scene is plagued with, it's good to know that some purveyors of death are coming back from the graveyard dust to smack metalheads with a heavy current of old school Swedish filth. The Ep has only two songs, and it can still be counted as a departure from their former sound, but fans will enjoy it nonetheless.

Innsmouth/Mongrel's Cross: 8.50/10
Uncanny: 7.75/10