Kev Rowland
Guitarist/vocalist Matt Bishop first started coming up with ideas for this band as long ago as 2005, but it only really started gaining traction when he teamed up with guitarist Tony Tipton (Necrotic Disgorgement, Regurgitation) in 2013. Gradually the current line-up came together with drummer Kyle Christman (Gorgasm, Sarcophagy) and bassist Phil Good (Necrotic Disgorgement, Created To Kill etc.) finally being joined by Anthony Voight (Gorgasm, Sarcophagy). This is their debut release, and of course, the only way to start a death metal album is by having an acoustic interlude with mandolins and guitars giving away to something far more brutal. It’s not new, it adds nothing, and I don’t really see the point to be honest.
But from there on it is heads down and lose the dandruff, with a sound which is very heavy and dense indeed. As well as the traditional death metal growls, Bishop also adds his own which is in more of a black metal style and the two combine well. One thing to note is that this is a band who from the outset are prepared to do things quite differently, so during “Born From Brutality” there are times when the guitars take a back seat and let the bass come up front, which is not what I would expect from a death metal band. The twin guitars are joined as one, while Christman also isn’t afraid to take different approaches, so we can get gentle cymbal tapping as opposed to crashes, complete bars where he is concentrating just on bass sounds and very little snare.
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that this doesn’t seem like a debut given that all those involved have been in other bands, sometimes with each other, and overall this is a very interesting release indeed. There are times when the production is just too muddy and bass heavy, but hopefully this album will gain them the notice they deserve as this is certainly worthy of investigation.