2024 Rotten Music / CD
2024 Deathstare Records / Cassette
www.rottenmusic.net
www.deathstarerecs.com
BADASS TRACKS: Relentless Clawhammer Bludgeoning, Maniacal
Descent into Necrophilia, Leg Flesh Casserole, Scattered Disposal of Spirit
Wives to Avoid Detection
ONE-WORD BADASS DESCRIPTION: Barbaric!
This two-man international project (one of these fellas
lives in the UK, the other in Austria) caught my attention due to the subject
matter – it’s a sort of biographical concept album all about the serial killer
Ed Kemper, who interests me quite a bit. I’ve read several books on the sick
fuck. As with most serial killers, he was basically an impotent douchebag who
killed all kinds of women except the one he really wanted to kill, which was
his abusive bitch of a mother (but he finally did, eventually, which helped to
end his criminal career).
Musically, this is barbaric brutal death metal, in the vein
of the old US Midwest scene, bringing to mind acts like Fleshgrind, sometimes
Broken Hope, Brodequin, and Lividity. However, other influences from across the
death metal spectrum can be picked out, which makes for an interesting listen. The
instrumentation is more than adequate, being both polished and skilled, and
they don’t over-rely on slam riffs like so many throwaway bands today. There is
a nice balance here between speed and heaviness. The vocals are deep, guttural,
and mostly unintelligible, with the occasional toad croak and pig squeal, but
they’re varied enough to keep my interest. It’s not just one trick and done.
There are clearly lyrics being sung and words being imparted. The drums are
programmed, but skillfully done. I honestly wouldn’t have known if not for a
few sections of Mortician-style ultra-blasts that sound mechanical. Other than
that, they sound real enough, right down to good cymbal tones.
I can tell Mass Killing worked quite hard to make memorable
songs here, and while hooks can easily be lost in brutal death metal, they
preserved enough of them in their songwriting to create a standout record that
positions itself at the head of the pack, having enough variation in tempo,
riffs, and writing for the songs to worm their way into your brain. “Leg Flesh
Casserole” is a good example of using mid-paced heaviness to create some
variation on the record, with the slower parts having an almost Morbid
Angel-like sludginess. The slam riffs, when they do happen, are completely
barbaric, hair-windmilling affairs, owing in large part to the heavy-ass guitar
sound and by not leaning on repeating them too often in the songs. I recommend
this monster of a record to anyone who is sick of all the throwaway “bedroom
slam” bands and wants to hear some real brutal death metal that’s properly
played.
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