UMUR
"魍魎 (Mouryou)" is the debut full-length studio album by Japanese death/thrash metal act Gotsu Totsu Kotsu (or 兀突骨 in Japanese). The album was released through Bang the Head Records in 2009. Gotsu Totsu Kotsu features among others (at the time) Defiled bassist (and on this project also vocalist) Haruhisa Takahata.
The music on the album is a raw and brutal form of thrash metal with growling vocals. It´s energetic, aggressive, and organic in execution. In many ways similar to other brutal thrash metal acts out there, but one thing sets Gotsu Totsu Kotsu apart from other artists playing the style, and that´s the bass playing of Haruhisa Takahata. He plays a brutal and busy slap bass (so no funky sounding slap bass here) throughout the album, which provide the music with some originality. If you´re familiar with his contributions to Defiled´s material the distinct sounding bass playing is no surprise though.
The material is slightly one-dimensional but solid and relatively catchy throughout, so overall "魍魎 (Mouryou)" might not be a revelation, but it´s still a very enjoyable thrash metal album in the more brutal end of the spectrum. a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.