Exhumed and Gruesome are both US death metal bands, and they’ve teamed up for this split release.
We start with the bloody Exhumed, a band that are quite legendary in gore metal circles. Continue reading “Exhumed/Gruesome – Twisted Horror – Split (Review)”
Exhumed are a death metal band from the US and this is their seventh album.
How unexpected. If you’d have told me that in 2019 Exhumed’s newest album would be 26 minutes of gore-obsessed deathgrind, I’d certainly have been surprised. And I am. Maybe this is a reaction to the relative sophistication of Continue reading “Exhumed – Horror (Review)”
Butcher ABC are a Japanese death metal band and this is their debut album.
Butcher ABC play a gruesome mix of death metal and grindcore, making for 39 ugly, sickening minutes of virulent gore metal. Continue reading “Butcher ABC – North of Hell (Review)”
This is Avulsed’s sixth album and the veteran Death Metal juggernaut shows no sign of let up in either the aggression or quality departments.
If you haven’t encountered Avulsed before then I heartily recommend you get hold of their entire back catalogue as they have released some great Death Metal over the years.
Their style is brutality spiced up with unexpected moments of melody and a large degree of catchiness. Yes; Death Metal with songs!
Their latest album is no different; here we get ultra-heavy song-based Death Metal with a production that melts faces all delivered by a band who have made Metal their true calling in life. This passion shines through and I think is one of the reasons that Avulsed are so good at what they do.
They’ve never shied away from the odd unexpected moment either; the odd keyboard-enhanced section or Spanish guitar track has been known to make it through the mincer on occasion to throw in a bit of light in all of the gore-drenched chaos. This is the exception of course, as the vast majority is pure unadulterated Death Metal.
This zombie-themed album smashes skulls and scores kill-shots with every song. Vocalist Dave Rotten once again putting in a stellar performance with guttural, bowel-loosening growls honed through decades of use.
There is also a cover of Death’s Zombie Ritual to chew on.
Avulsed continue to be one of the best Death Metal bands around. This album is expertly crafted, proficiently played and staunchly Death Metal; any fan of brutality should have this in their collection.
Philippine Brutal Death Metal band Pus Vomit have released their new EP Stoned To Death, packed to the rafters full of pig-noise, slam-downs and slaughter.
This is out-and-out brutality that worships the crushing, mid-paced attack of Death Metal as much as the out-and-out blast; and there is plenty of both. They play fast and slow equally well, but the slower parts can sometimes be so oppressive in their heaviness that they’re worthy of special note.
For only a three-piece, (with no bassist), they don’t half play an almighty racket. Proper Brutal Death Metal played for the sheer bloodthirsty fun of it. 5 tracks in 19 minutes means it doesn’t outstay its welcome; it simply enters the room, kills everyone in sight, stays briefly to molest the bodies and then leaves through a hole in the wall which it makes with a sledgehammer.
There’s even time to tack on a “hidden song” at the end of the last track, which is apparently a re-recorded version of one of the first songs they ever recorded.
There is nothing new here but that’s not the point; this is all about ripping, tearing, slashing and hacking your way through the corpses to the sound of dying pigs. And who can honestly say they don’t enjoy a bit of that in the morning?
Gutslit are a brutal, slamming Death Metal from India who have recently released their début album Skewered in the Sewer. This is a top-quality release that I really enjoyed and even made it into the recent Wonderbox Metal Best of 2013 list, so I’m pleased to have had the chance to ask them a few questions.
Hi! How would you introduce your band for people that have never heard of you before?
Gutslit (Gurdip Narang): Let’s just say, imagine somebody feeding off your pain, torturing you, bleeding you to a level where you go numb and can only see the blood pouring out of your body while the chisel and saw used to amputate your limbs lie coated in blood and tissues. A faint smile on the face of the person who has done it to you. Pleasure and feeling of contentment showing on his horrific, calm yet evil face, already planning his next kill. That feeling there is what Gutslit is all about. The unstoppable force of butchery, torture and pain that will hit you with every riff, the punch in your groin with every drum beat, the haste and momentary pauses between the blows like the bass and the screams and grunts of the pain felt in every vocal note.
When we started out, there was not even a single band from our city that played Grind. Slam wasn’t known to many. Pig squeals were thought of as some processed noise worked out in a studio. Only a few people knew what it was to play with programmed drums on stage. Bands were asked to cover the famous thrash and a few death metal bands. We just picked up our favourite band, Dying Fetus and covered their track “Kill Your Mother Rape Your Dog”. Then there were songs from our EP with the French band, Pulmonary Fibrosis. Having a split with a foreign band was also the first for any Indian extreme metal band. We played an International show with Putrid Pile. That too was the first for any Indian extreme metal band. From then, to now with ‘Skewered in the Sewer’, we’ve just worked harder and harder.
What are your main influences?
Dying Fetus, Disgorge (USA), Brodequin, Inveracity, Coldworker, Defeated Sanity, Devourment, Vulvectomy, Beheaded, Immolation, Vader, Putrid Pile, Cephalotripsy, Condemned, Krisiun, Mumakil, Mindly Rotten and a lot more.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
The new albums by the veterans have blown us away this year. Defeated Sanity, Dying Fetus, Gorguts, Carcass. They all have justified why they deserve the respect through these years. Mindly Rotten, Infernal Revulsion are few bands that one must have in their list for future greats.
This is a great début album – how did you come up with the songs?
All our songs were written by our former guitarist Dynell, drums and bass were worked out later by Aaron and Gurdip respectively and the songs were finalized with the addition of vocals by Aditya. All lyrics were written by Gurdip. Except for one song, “Circumcised with a Chainsaw”. Lyrics and Vocals on that track are done by Mallika Sundaramurthy from Abnormality and Parasitic Extirpation USA.
The songs you have written are not only brutal but really catchy. In my review I compared you to Gorerotted in some ways. Are you familiar with them and do you think it’s a fair comparison?
Yes we are aware of Gorerotted and have heard almost everything that they have released. We were really happy to be compared to them and were quite ecstatic about the same. We even mentioned the same on our social media pages.
Being from India do you feel this has influenced your sound at all?
There was never a relevant band to connect to in India. There were many in other sub genres of extreme metal. There are many that are coming out with good promising material and we are really glad to see professionalism in music.
What is the Indian Metal scene like? Do you feel much connection to it?
Indian Metal scene is as vague as the people. Almost every genre which is known and played abroad finds its place here. Many have even tried and merged Indian classical music with the metal and the results have been quite good.
What are your plans for the future?
We are working on a 4 way International Split with all the other bands being from Europe and the UK. This should be released before summer of 2014 and before we hit Europe for a few shows and the mighty Obscene Extreme Festival in Czech Republic.
And finally…Do you prefer Chris Barnes or George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher?
As our vocalist Aditya Barve says,”I prefer Chris Barnes for the lyrical madness that he does, but Corpsegrinder is definitely a more powerful vocalist, live and on record!”
Thanks for your time!
Thank you very much brother for this interview!
Aborted Fetus – Russian Brutal Death Metal that’s guaranteed to give you a shock in the arm early in the morning. Who said Caffeine is better than Death Metal?
This is ultra-brutal, almost-Deathgrind music that takes no prisoners and probably doesn’t even know what the word mercy means. As a point of reference think early Severe Torture, and then think how much of a compliment that is.
The songs are largely short and sharp with plenty of blast to remove the cobwebs and get the, (bloody), juices flowing.
Vocals are unintelligible and coarse – almost pure pignoise, but just the right side of this so rather than sounding stupid they actually sound pretty damn great!
I have a soft spot for this kind of ultra-brutality. Yes it’s never going to win any awards for originality but being unique is overrated sometimes; sometimes you just want to blast and grind it out, and when you’re in this kind of mood Aborted Fetus hit the exact right spot.
You can hear a track streamed from Comatose Music here.
Brutal, slamming Death Metal from India with lashings of gore and a sprinkling of torture.
This is a nicely barbaric release. Plenty of blasting and chugging to set the heart racing. They’re not afraid to inject some nice leads into the mix on the odd occasion to augment the punishing rhythms and slamming nature of the rest of the music.
The vocals are low and guttural, descending to the level of pure pig-noise on occasion. Sometimes it sounds like the vocal equivalent of taking a sander to someone’s face. It may not sound pleasant but it works.
Sometimes this form of Brutal Death Metal/Death Grind/Gore Grind/etc. can sound quite generic and average, but Gutslit are better than that. It’s not due to a radical departure in sound or style, but simply a good ear for dynamics and songs. This is Death Metal that is almost catchy while it’s pulverising you. Think Gorerotted for the right kind of idea.
I like this, a lot. It has all of the ingredients of a satisfying album, and at 26 minutes long it’s a quick, easy listen. Of course these things are all relative. To the average person on the street this would be a Hellish torture session of epic proportions. But that’s just the way we like it. This kind of music was not designed for the wider public. This is Death Metal and this is for us.
Favourite Track: Haemorrhoidal Brain Custard. I defy you to sit still when this is playing.
Italian band Exhumer play brutal Deathgrind, and they play it well. It’s not a very long album, but with this style of music that’s a given. It’s not necessary either; too long and it could outstay its welcome. As it is the running time is just right for the dose of brutality that is dished out here. And brutal it is.
After a perfunctory intro; first track proper “Vapours of Cadaveric Mucilage” sets the scene perfectly. Straight out of the gate they lay their cards on the table and go for the kill. The song blasts out of the gates like a rabid attack dog that knows exactly where all of your weak points lie.
A tendency sometimes for bands such as this can be to go for the ultra-ridiculous pig-noise vocals. Thankfully that isn’t the case here. The vocalist acquits himself nicely, having a nice and satisfying deep growl which is used to great effect across the album. The overall sound is not a cold and clinical one as you may expect either; rather it is warm and pulsing – like you can feel the blood coursing!
It’s not all blast though. They do throw in the odd brief respite from the carnage as well, in the form of “Misery” and “Scent of Decomposition”, and then we’re back to the mayhem once more!
For a short album with short songs the tracks are remarkably well composed. As well as the blasting carnage there are also slower paced parts occasionally, as well as some nice meaty riffs to get sucked in by.
All in all a superior deathgrind release for sure – a lot of bands could learn from Exhumer.
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