BRAIN DRILL — Apocalyptic Feasting (review)

BRAIN DRILL — Apocalyptic Feasting album cover

Album · 2008 · Technical Death Metal

3/5 · 2020-10-12
siLLy puPPy

There are a few bands that specialize in being as brutally extreme as humanly possible and the California based BRAIN DRILL certainly fits into that category. This band from the Santa Cruz region of California in the town of Bend Lomand was founded by guitarist / songwriter Dylan Ruskin. The band existed from 2005-2019 and released three albums and one EP. This first album APOCALYPTIC FEASTING came out in 2008 and showcases some of the most technical and brutal death metal that you can possibly find.

APOCALYPTIC FEASTING features Steve Rathjen (vocals), Dylan Ruskin (guitar), Jeff Hughell (bass) and Marco Pitruzella (drums) and the album hosts ten tracks that whizz by at the speed of light and last just over 35 minutes. BRAIN DRILL is famous for incorporating ridiculously fast speeds in an eruptive incessant flow of unbridled energy that tackles not only dizzyingly fast tempos but also incorporates all kinds of technical gymnastics that find odd time signatures, frenetic soloing and a non-stop machine gun pummeling of the drums. This is headache music if there ever was some.

For the most part, BRAIN DRILL delivers a typical death metal style that features caustic distorted guitar riffs, bass and drum pummelation and guttural growly vocals that also scream here and there. What sets BRAIN DRILL apart from the legion of other death metal bands is that everything is exaggerated to the hilt. This album is truly punishing in every sense of the world. With only a few moments of guitar solos that provide melody, the album is mostly just an excessive chaotic flow of rhythmic pummelation that rarely rests for a break with only a scant few sound sample intermissions.

For all its emphasis on being the most brutal, most technical and loudest music ever recorded, BRAIN DRILL forgot about the creativity aspect of songwriting and that’s where APOCALYPTIC FEASTING falls way short. Yeah, this is impressive on every level in the technical wizardry department as all the musicians are on the top of their game and it’s almost unthinkable how difficult is must be to sustain these tempos at this technical level for extended periods of time but when all is said and done, the tracks all sound pretty samey with the same thundering chops recycled and the same lightning fast upper register guitar licks whizzing by so fast it all sounds like a sped up tape. Only a few tracks really stand out.

If you’re looking for an explosive burst of energy you never thought possible then you can’t go wrong with BRAIN DRILL but if you want a bit more variation in your death metal than this band falls a bit short as the entire experience is a bit too monotonous and one-dimensional for my tastes. Still though i do appreciate this frenetic chaotic swirl of loudness but when i want to hear music this caustic and over-the-top i much prefer to hear the more adventurous and creative world of mathcore from bands like Psyopus, Behold… The Arctopus or Botch. This is something everyone should experience at least once though just to hear how freaking fast three guys can belt out guitar, bass and drums in unison. It’s truly some of the most impressive gymnastics in extreme metal.