The Italian band Vulvectomy is back at it with their unique brand of death metal on the new cut Aberrant Vaginal Gestation out on Comatose Music. Of course, anyone who picks up this cut will notice the gore/brutality elements in everything from the art to the song titles. Do not be fooled though there is much to be had sonically once we dive into the actual music. Continue reading
You either love Beatdown Death Metal and all its violence-even-though-it’s-carefully-controlled live atmosphere, or you think it’s a bunch of amped-up spinkickers with no respect for their surroundings.Continue reading
Having undergone a serious upheaval in personnel, the only remaining member of No Zodiac, drummer Erik Bartow, moved the band’s base of operations from Chicago, Illinois, where they originally formed in 2009, and relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. Successfully rebooted in a new city, the band have recorded Altars of Impurity (Siege Music), the follow-up to sophomore album, 2015’s Eternal Misery (Beatdown Hardwear).Continue reading
In the New England states of the US, we may have some awfully cold weathers and short lived summers but boy do we have a great local metal scene! Massachusetts’ own, Dysentery, are back with their third full length release, Fragments (Comatose Music). Everything I could have hoped for from a brutal death metal band is on this album and then some. Deep guttural vocals, guitar/bass riffs that get a little fancy but keep it heavy, and of course some lovely slam sprinkled in. The album does a great job opening with instrumental track, ‘Onset,’ and coming full circle with the same riff in the closing instrumental track, ‘Oblivion’.
The one down side for me with Fragments was trying to decide what tracks were my favorite as most of the tracks seemed to blend together. I absolutely enjoyed what I heard but most songs sounded similar outside of the instrumental tracks and a select few other tracks. One such track was ‘Veiled Narcissism’ on the latter half of the album. This track had a memorable guitar riff to me and a monstrous squeal over a breakdown towards the end of the song. The very next track, ‘Within Descending Skies They Will Suffer’, may be my favorite on the whole album with a speedy guitar lick and easily the best build up on the whole album. Then the slam hits you right in the chest and then slowly evolves back into a second guitar riff that I caught myself whistling while typing this review up. I feel there were a good amount of tracks that just seemed to sound like each other and lacked a personality. On the other hand, the songs that did stand out to me were some of the best death metal tracks I have heard.
Fragments will reach deep down inside of you, find whatever evil side you possess within, and rip it out along with your intestines. I found the best times to listen to this album is when the day at the office was absolutely dreadful and all I wanted to do was play bumper cars on the way home. Instead, Fragments just turned me into a caveman as I pretended to club the life out of my steering wheel.
7.5/10
TIM LEDIN