Now THIS is a split worth caring about! 4 bands, 30 or so minutes, 2 new (by 2006 standards) tracks each!Sect of Execration starts off with "Lord of the Sick" which pummels through some fast tempos and good switches, and the second song "Blessed Be the Whores of God" even begins with a semi-thrash riff/rhythm before evolving into a very catchy and sick slam section. Some slick mixing work on this, everything sounds very good, and the snare has an AWESOME deep, rich tone that really makes the breakdowns sound great. I'm impressed that these guys haven't done more with this project, though each member is in a few other bands, including another band on this split, Sarcolytic, Jon Zig's brutal mythical death metal project. I'd definitely like to hear this band do more, as they have a very cool style and I'd like to hear how they work in a longer format.
Godless Truth, Czech's darling slammers are up next with their brand of almost awkward death metal. Weird basslines and uneven mixing make this band sound kind of cool in a way, with non-slam riffs melding with each other through the blasting sections. The technical riffs slither around and find centers during the short equally technical breakdown sections. Zdenek, master of excellent record label Lacerated Enemy, produces some good yet typical low vocals, and there are some interesting lead guitar sections that sound nice and break the (sometimes) monotonous blasting/breakdown pattern.
Sarcolytic are of course quite awesome, a soon-to-be legendary brutal TXDM band with the equally-good Zig on vocals. And he utters forth some really fucking good vocals, powerful and deep with a good demonic tone. The songwriting is fairly good with a couple recognizable sections that are repeated in each song, and the blasting is quite good (though the snare is nowhere as cool as on SOE's part!). There are some cool layered high-low vocals which work well with the aforementioned "demonic" stylings present here. A good bassline is heard a ways into "Arras Persecute", also, which is always cool; finding new and interesting ways to implement bass always gets you extra points in this genre. I wish the guitar tone was a LITTLE clearer because it gets lost in the shuffle at times, but overall the production quality is improved from their debut demo/EP. Catchy and very high quality stuff, looking forward to more!
Devourment...well, I'm sure this was cool for every big fan of the band out there, their first new material since Butcher the Weak if I'm not mistaken. And it's really intense stuff; beginning with a crushing riff and leading into some excellent syncopated snare-blasting/catchy rhythms and slam riffs, the song immediately launches into a very fun slam breakdown, the kind Devourment are really known for. The inter-breakdown drumming is GREAT, definitely. I'm a big fan of Eric's work on this material, some really fucking cool fills and tight double bass on call here. Chris nails the bass drops, and Majewski's vocals are as utterly brutal as ever, though less guttural and "sick" than the early couple vocalists. I think his vocals fit the semi-new direction Devourment is going for, with more extreme death metal songwriting and a little more variety + better production, so that is all well and good to me. The Cannibal Corpse cover is also good; though I am really no CC fan to be honest, this makes me want to jam the original to get a feeling for how well these guys did it. It's more "melodic"/steady than Devourment usually is, but they play it seemingly well, so I have no problems.
Overall a fun, short and brutal split. Thought everyone has heard this by now, if there are any stragglers out there...get it!
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