With a career that has spanned 30-plus years to date (factoring in a 16-year departure), Dutch Death Metaller’s Phlebotomized are a band with a legacy and a cult following even amongst extreme music. Attributed as being one of the first such bands to use additional instrumentation including synths, theirs was a sound that was considered by many unique and pioneering at the time and in part a clear influence on many bands since then and in the current day. With this in mind, how does the new Phlebotomized hold up in the current day? On the evidence of Clouds Of Confusion (Hammerheart), pretty well.
Church of the Dead are ready to release more crushing old-school Death Metal with their second album Beyond Death (Redefining Darkness). The band does a terrific job of infusing several different styles into their classic death metal assault, black metal, some light synths, and even some punk rock are all thrown into the mix. The results leave a riff-heavy album that relies more on sheer power and brutality than any over-the-top theatrics.
No matter the time of year, it’s always winter for Norwegian black metal legends Immortal. Feeling nice and warm and looking forward to summer? Don’t be silly. Just one listen to the latest album War Against All (Nuclear Blast) will have you pining for the fjords and wishing the world was a dark, grim, and frostbitten kingdom of cryptic winter storms.
Vomitheist. It’s a band name that you hear or see and know exactly what you are in for. What exactly is a Vomitheist? Is it an instrument or a profession? Is it like an Atheist? Do they not believe in vomit, or do they worship it? Perhaps they are well-versed in all things regurgitation. Regardless of how or why they came up with their band name, what I can assure is that Vomitheist can write some sick ass and filthy Death Metal.
Picking up where the previous record Death Atlas left off, Terrasite (Metal Blade), the tenth album from deathgrind legends Cattle Decapitation finds new life evolving from the charred and blackened carcass of the Earth. Emerging from its human cocoon, the titular beastie – much like the band itself – awakens to continue on its path towards total planetary devastation.
Spanish foursome Undead unleash a skilful, satisfying slice of death metal with the sick, slick, and sprightly Putrefactio (Redefining Darkness Records). It’s far from rotten.
The last couple of years have been a whirlwind for the Essex-based Beyond Extinction, who dropped their first EP The Fatal Flaws Of Humankind in 2021, then hit a packed New Blood Stage at Bloodstock for their first festival appearance in the same year. Since then they’ve continued to hit the road with full force, playing shows with an impressive roster of bands including Viscera, Cancer Bats, The Five Hundred, and Our Hollow Our Home.
The Swedish death metal scene, especially the Gothenburg-based one with quintessential names like At the Gates, Entombed, and Dark Tranquility surrounding, is indeed all-around influential; many bands heavily inspired by the Gothenburg death metal scene have emerged throughout the past years. The Minneapolis-bound Majesties is one of the said bands. With members originating from the equally groundbreaking extreme metal acts Obsequiae and Inexorum, there was born a convergence, an allied force between those two acts– which is Majesties who recently have just released their first full-length entitled Vast Reaches Unclaimed, through 20 Buck Spin.
Only a few years ago, Viscera set the UK Deathcore scene ablaze with their debut album Obsidian, now with a few years under their belt (albeit partially being in the pandemic) and fresh straight off their big European tour with big-hitters Despised Icon and Decapitated, the deathcore group are back with their latest helping of heavy anthems with Carcinogenesis (Unique Leader). Will they be able to maintain this momentum brought on by their debut, or will they succumb to the looming threat of the sophomore slump?
Taking a leaf out of the Lorna Shore handbook, a harmonious orchestra floods your ears before putting the aforementioned question straight into the nearest bin as if it was ridiculous to even begin to suggest in the first place. Chugging rolling guitars and blast beats take the centre stage shortly before Jamie Graham’s beastly voice bellows out the album title and hollers out the first of many screams to come. This brutality can ultimately only be summarised in one word: heavy.
It is evident that the deathcore band are set out from the get-go to show they’ve not softened in sound at all. It’s not all the same as before either, interjecting some less screaming vocals, Graham’s almost spoken word for the gaps in mayhem, give almost an element of Sheffield heroes, Malevolence. This doesn’t for one moment lower the tone or scale back the furiosity of the sound. On the contrary, the break in dynamics make the heavier sections seem much heavier in contrast, and these pauses help to build momentum back up, culminating in a song that will devastate the live circuit.
While in Obsidian, the band put on a fine display of technical deathcore prowess, in Carcinogenesis, on the other hand, the quintet put forward a range of other influences from the death metal spectrum into the album’s mixture. ‘Layers of Skin’ demonstrates this perfectly, seamlessly flitting between the chugging core sound of the subgenre, sounding almost like it’s punching into your head, into more technical finger tapping feats, in line with more melodic death metal. These two sounds subtly merge together you’d have thought they were entwined the entire song.
Once again, Viscera take it up a notch with the sixth track of the release, ‘Sungazer’. Synthy introductions greet the listener for the first time, shortly being joined by a tech metal sound straight out of the Veil of Maya catalog as the band then push the throttle on and launch into a ferocious heavy sound. Part of Graham’s highlight in his previous bands, especially in Heart of a Coward was his rich, clean vocals. ‘Sungazer’ allows Graham to display his full range in the chorus, throwing all of himself into it.
Bringing back the orchestral melodies interpolated into the heavy deathcore sounds, the band don’t leave the album without another face melter in the guise of ‘On Earth As It Is In Hell’. Spoken word passages are interspersed throughout the song, bringing forward a similar mood to the likes of ‘Daylight Dies’ by metalcore stalwarts Killswitch Engage. This combined with the Hellish brutality of their previous song produces the perfect album to close on.
Not only have Viscera managed to maintain the quality of Obsidian, but in by bringing on the different influences of either side of their subgenre, the band have managed to create a body of music that goes beyond what their first album managed too. It definitely seems, as much of cliche as it is to say, the skies are the limit for this deathcore quintet.
Viscera should definitely be at the top of your list to look out for in the UK Deathcore scene. It definitely feels like there’s still a lot more to come from this band in the future.
It seems to be an increasingly common event in today’s turbulent music scene that bands see departures in their ranks; whether this subsequently derails the band completely or becomes a benefit. For Entheos, it is firmly a case of the latter. Stripping to a two-piece consisting of vocalist Chaney Crabb and multi-instrumentalist Navene Koperweis, the pair have been able to write with less compromise and more focus on their own vision. The result of which, Time Will Take Us All (Metal Blade), certainly feels like fine-tuned creative pairing is a strong step up.
