Organectomy are a death metal band from New Zealand and this is their third album.
Both 2017’s Domain of the Wretched and 2019’s Existential Disconnect were brutally good fun, so it was with high expectations that I approached Nail Below Nail.
Delivering 45 minutes of slamming brutality, Nail Below Nail is nothing if not brutal. It also exceeded my expectations with its colossal songs. The music is ridiculously pit-friendly and it’s hard to stay still even if you’re listening to it sitting down. The band’s grooves are hard to ignore, and this is downright infectious stuff.
As you must surely know by now, Organectomy deal in monstrous riffs and huge slams. Add to this some punishing drums, rumbling bass, and the sort of soul-swallowing guttural vocals that drink in all light, and you have a winning formula. What’s not to like? Even if you’re not sold on the slam style, Nail Below Nail is just so much better than the majority of bands peddling the style it’s just silly.
The songs are tight and precise, and sickeningly heavy. The band arrange and structure their crushing heaviness into tracks that are far more fun and enjoyable than anything this brutally nasty probably has any right to be.
The band’s approach to death metal takes in elements of both old-school and modern styles. With technical flourishes, ruthless melody, and atmospheric aspects all seeing use here and there, (I’ll particularly reference instrumental moodscape Ulcerborne here), this range of death metal influences old and new helps to flesh out the core of brutal slam that festers at the heart of Organectomy.
This is the album that Organectomy have been building up to. Nail Below Nail is the band’s most compelling and outright devastating work so far, and is a great example of how to play brutal slamming death metal with energy and skill.
Essential listening for any fan of the style.
Wonderbox Metal 