65%
Artwork by Aziz Blcxstry. Released on Friday 19 August 2022 on Comatose Music.
For fans of: Devourment | Internal Bleeding | Disavowed | Mortician
www.facebook.com/killeverythingtx
www.facebook.com/Necroticgorebeast
www.facebook.com/Virulentexcision
In the sewers and cellars, far from the light, the dark, forgotten tunnels have been claimed by new rulers. Hunters and haunters, bestial predators that exist on the edge of urban myth and nightmare, they wade through excrement and death as they stalk their hellish kingdoms. They rule the shadows from thrones of bone, chewing on filth and feasting on rot, warped gods of brutish power and explosive violence. As untouched by morality as the rays of the sun they are the lords of the underworld, kings of the slithering, the twisted and the lost…
Four rabid attacks, four blows of the hammer… one colossal onslaught of brutal death! Comatose Music have brought together four imposing monsters from the furthest extremes of death metal to create Acts Of Sadistic Cruelty—a twelve-track split album of unprecedented savagery and hideous intent.
There was a time when I would actively listen to this level of brutality—deep, mumbled gurgling vocals with incomprehensible lyrics, set to pounding drums, jangling percussion and breakneck-speed wall-of-noise riffs. There was a time when I wanted to listen to any kind of extreme music that pushed the boundaries of just how heavy and brutal music could become—louder, faster, heavier, deeper, higher screams, deeper growls. I wanted to explore the map of heavy music and orientate myself within it. It was an essential rite of passage for me, a self-discovery. So I understand why releases like this are essential. None of this is new, none of this is ground-breaking, but it is all unique because these journeys have been made by these unique individuals as part of their our life journeys and they have invited us to join them for at least a few blood-splattered steps as they drag the corpes of their recorded prey across the metaphorical stage.
From Texas, Kill Everything deliver three tracks of grotesque, relentless bludgeoning. Hostile, inhuman and punishing, these songs are the very definition of bestial brutality. Gargled, pounding, plodding, relentless. One song melts into the next, destroying everything in their wake.
The Quebecois killing machine NecroticGoreBeast attack with massive slabs of riff power, delivered with wicked precision and unfathomable force. Technical brilliance and calculated song craft take their three songs to the next level of intensity. Given the song titles, this is a band that has clearly invested in a good medical dictionary. There are some tasty riffs nestled in these tracks.
Chicago’s Virulent Excision combine thick, bloody riffs and domineering vocals, injecting them with violent velocity and daubing them in pure hate. Their last track, “Bill Cosby’s favourite Disney princess…” is a bit of an outlier, pieced together from various clips like a strange Frankenstein’s monster of a track. But it is the perfect segue into the last artist on the album.
Featuring the diseased vocal exhortations of the legendary Larry Wang, Taiwanese lunatics Gorepot add insane humour to their thudding sonic detonations and dirty, addictive riffs. Utterly irreverent and brutal to the bone and with song titles that… well, I felt were unnecessary. Gorepot serves up something that feels like a marriage of brutal death metal with Mike Patton’s experimental album Adult Themes for Voice (1996) and some cartoon clips.
As a teenager I would have found music like this challenging and exciting; now at the other side of fifty, I’ve experienced enough brutality in my life, I want my music to speak to it and offer me hope. There is a level of brutality here that verges on inhumanity. As an academic exercise, I find releases like this interesting as boundaries of heaviness and horror are explored, but I don’t find that these songs move me, they don’t feed my soul or challenge me, they leave me feeling cold and unnourished. But perhaps that is the point—perhaps this music is a reflection of humanity rather than offering a path back into the heart of humanity.
That said, there is no doubt that this is an essential release for all devoted followers of brutal death metal and those addicted to the ultimate expression of extremity and sheer bloody heaviness. Four distinct styles of brutality slug it out in a no-holds-barred fight to the death—a feast of blood, gore, disgust and, dare I say, in a few places distaste.
Review score: 65%
Imperative PR contacted me inviting me to preview this forthcoming album, thank you. I have no connections to either Imperative PR or any of the bands featured. I’m not being paid to review this. But I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Imperative PR, and to Kill Everything, NecroticGoreBeast, Virulent Excision and Gorepot for continuing to create freshly slaughtered offerings for the brutal death metal gods.