Dead for Ten Weeks - Bloodline Detriment (Unmatched Brutality; 2007)

Despite their rather checkered history, Unmatched Brutality have releases a fair amount of good brutal death metal, most recently the very good debut of Orchidectomy. Back in 2007 they released Bloodline Detriment the debut full-length of Gulfport, Mississippi's Dead for Ten Weeks. Taking their name from Devourment lyrics (Choking on Bile to be specific), Dead for Ten Weeks play a very evil sounding mix of most American brutal stylings.

I think the primary influence on this album comes from the mighty Suffocation. The same choppy, technical riffs followed by quick pounding slams is here. Also to be found on Bloodline Detriment are the groovy pit riffs of TXDM and the slicing melodicism of CADM. Really there's a lot to like here. A criticism that can be made is that no one element really stands here. While good, most of the brutality here is pretty standard. The vocals follow the riffing in that they are pretty varied, but are also average sounding. Kind of like labelmates Orchidectomy this is partially made up for by the fact that there is a lot of variation which prevents boredeom from setting in.

Now, while I said the brutal riffing tended towards the mean, Dead for Ten Weeks do manage to elevate themselves slightly above the enjoyable mediocrity that characterizes so many bands of this genre. They do this by adding just a couple moments of old school death metal to the album. On the whole I find OSDM pretty good but not as satisfying in the long run as brutal death. However one thing it does better than brutal death metal is creating an atmosphere of evil and that is what elevates Dead for Ten Weeks above the average. Those couple moments of evil, old school sickness, lend Bloodline Detriment some uniqueness and the contrast between the new and old styles makes them both sound better.

I think this phenomenon is similar to what Clitoridus Invaginatus (review) did when they added a couple moments of rock into their brutal death metal. Dead for Ten Weeks don't stray that far from the nest, but they did create an enjoyable album with Bloodline Detriment.