Asphyxiate - Altar of Decomposed (2021; New Standard Elite)

Slam in 2021 continues to impress with not one, not two, but three new NSE releases, each of which is satisfying in its own way. First up, we're going to take a look at Indonesian brutality purveyors Asphyxiate's new album, Altar of Decomposed.

This is Asphyxiate's first album in eight years, and the amount of work they've put in between the years following Self Transform From Decayed Flesh up until the present day is evident in how absolutely fucking great this is. Now, I would never say I was a giant fan of this band's previous works, as, although they've generally been solid works of Indonesian brutality, they do bear a lot of the hallmarks and pitfalls of that scene's sound: raw-ish, thin production, vocals that are well-performed and passionately-delivered but not really superb overall, odd mixing, and songs that don't feel overall satisfying or memorable despite a high ratio of good to meh riffs.

Right off the bat, we can hear a thicker, more bludgeoning tone to the guitars, and a satisfyingly pinged-out snare that nevertheless doesn't really overdo it on that front. This really charges right out of the gate with a bouncy slam and chunky riff section punctuated by excellent gutturals with a lot more clarity and composure to them compared to prior albums by these guys. I immediately started drawing comparisons to Cerebral Effusion crossed with Hymenotomy in how dense and jam-packed, yet loose and flowing these riffs and sections feel. I also pick up some strong Injury Deepen vibes in the way almost every riff is constructed over charging blasts, which also means this reminds me a lot of Gorgasm by extension at times, with some pretty overt Disgorge leanings peppered throughout. Track 2, "Sickening Canvas of the Dead," has a superb slower section with some flourishes of technicality in it and a dragging slam-esque riff that really brings some primality to the proceedings, and the band utilizes these types of sections here and there to counterpoint their usually fast-and-blasting style. They never really get to the level of Putridity in terms of pure blast-laden ferocity, but I really enjoy the contrasting elements that they layer in here, as those parts give this some true replayability. There are a couple standouts here that break from the mold, those two being "Altar of Decomposed," with its extremely dark approach, carrying a dreadful air of mystery throughout its snaking melodic passages, and "The Saint Killer" which just packs an absolute ton of catchy and satisfying riffs in its 3 minute runtime while also featuring probably the best single slam section on the entire album at 1:50 or so.

Anyway, with all these things having been said, the entire record is very much a "slab." In true Indonesian brutal death metal fashion, it does have a fairly-homogeneous sound throughout, and when you put it on, it's definitely one of those albums that you should be devoting some time to paying attention to. It doesn't have as many ridiculous slams or absurd catchy parts as some other recent NSE releases from the past year, but what you get here is exactly what you think you're going to get based on listening to the first few minutes of it. Some small highlights (the intense bass shredding toward the end of "Inhuman Catharsis" or the aforementioned odd, dark melodies in the title track's slower sections, for example) do break things up in their own way, but I think the consistency of this album is probably also one of its weaknesses in a sense. At a hair over 30 minutes long, it's about 5-7 minutes longer than the "ideal" slam album length, but they use the time well and I don't think it could really shave much off to become a leaner and/or meaner beast, so I guess it's not really an issue as much as a thing that feels kind of noticeable as I listen to it. And, of course, it's been eight years, so it makes sense that they have a lot up their sleeves for this release. No real complaints from me on this one, and it is certainly worth spinning many times. Hopefully it doesn't take them another eight years between albums, but I'm sure the next one will be an astronomical increase in quality even from this enjoyable brutality. More NSE reviews soon... stay fucking sick!

Relevant Links:
Asphyxiate - Altar of Decomposed (official direct Bandcamp link)
New Standard Elite / Death Direct (official website)

Infectology - Promo 2021 (New Standard Elite)

You know it's gonna be a good year for slam when there's a demo that catches your ear that is six minutes long, from a band you've never heard, and which you play on repeat for days straight like a psycho. Enter Infectology.

I've already talked at length in my past few entries since restarting this blog about how 2021 seems like a real renaissance, so I'll dispense with that right out of the gate, but seriously... what is happening right now? This demo follows an album from 2016 (coincidentally released on Gore House Productions who have featured heavily in this blog since its recent rebirth) that was... not great. I don't even think I listened to the first Infectology album until I discovered this new demo and went back to check it out. It's decent and everything, at least from a songwriting perspective, but the production could not be further from this new demo. In a sense, their 2016 album reminds me a little of some of that oddly-melodic/epic Colombian slam/BDM (such as Blaze Inside or Suppuration), and the sound quality in general is somewhat quaint but not impressive.

Well, forget everything you thought you knew about Infectology before this post (unless you've already listened to this blisteringly-brutal demo, in which case, you definitely already know what I'm about to elucidate upon), because holy fuck. This new demo is unnecessarily intense and tight, jaw-droppingly heavy, massive, and well-written. It starts with four ping-y snare hits that lead to a massive, charging, chunky riff section that features some of the most amazing dual-vocal tradeoffs I've heard lately. The pinch-harmonic laden verse riff that leads to the first rolling slam is out-of-this-world good, bringing to mind comparisons to Cerebral Effusion, and the next few sections are pure ping slam in the Ecchymosis style with lots of fun flair and aplomb throughout. This is a massive step up in quality from the 2016 album. It doesn't even sound remotely like the same band.

The second track seems like it's going to bring out some Hymenotomy-type groove/intensity, but the quick fake-out in the beginning leads to straightforward blasting with heavily reverbed vocals and a continuation of the harmonic-punctuated chunky slam style from the first song. The main thrust of the track has a rolling groove mixed with some chaotic snare rolls and a superb slam that makes me think of the darker and creepier side of slam (somewhat pioneered by Condemned), just overall dripping with atmosphere and intensity. The bass tone on this thing is also out of control, and the playing itself is superb. In a genre where rhythm is extremely important, sometimes it feels like the bass guitar is forgotten. There are some obvious bands that implement this instrument in a meaningful, compositionally-deft way, but a lot of the time it's pretty much just going to be an element that follows the guitar. Right from the outset of the first track, the blasting sections that are punctuated by quick hammer-ons on guitar are also outfitted with loud, clear, and sharp bass playing that is brought alive and rendered interesting and salient by a superb mix. I don't think I'm alone when I say that I cannot fucking wait for the album signaled by these two tracks. Dan at NSE is once again doing a fantastic job scouting talent, no doubt about it. This is the best demo I've heard in ages and I consider it a wonderfully brutal teaser of things to come for this outfit. Listen to it now below.

As always, NSE merchandise is available here.

Abominable Putridity - Parasitic Metamorphosis Manifestation (2021; Inherited Suffering Records)

Welcome back, my fellow slammers. Lately, I've been feeling increasingly-certain that this year will turn out to be one of the most memorable in recent memory for our beloved genre of brutal musical sickness. Out of seemingly-nowhere (though I personally think it's more likely that they popped out of an interdimensional space after hibernating in cosmic stasis for a while), Russian heavy machine Abominable Putridity bestowed upon the world its third full-length album (first in about nine years!) after tons of lineup changes and an air of uncertainty about the future of the project. I realize that there has been a healthy amount of cynicism regarding AP, since news had up until recently been pretty sparse, and of course the mysterious vacating of every member but the drummer and the subsequent recruitment of journeyman vocalist Ángel Ochoa in the early stages of last year were kind of shocking to some fans, but I think I speak for many of us when I say that this album is, perhaps slightly-surprisingly, fucking awesome.

When I got the e-mail from Inherited Suffering Records that this randomly popped up on Bandcamp last week, my jaw hit the floor as I realized it wasn't just another random single but an entire freaking album. There were rumors this was going to drop in 2020, but it seems like it may have required a bit more time in the incubator, or perhaps Alex knew that 2021 would be a better time to drop this as it seems we may be in the middle of a bit of a slam renaissance right now, but whatever the reason, I immediately hit play and proceeded to expect at least some element of disappointment or "well, that was fine, but not sure why we waited so long for it." Again, I'm reasonably confident I speak for at least some of you reading this right now when I say tension was high and expectations were set at a comfortably-moderate level. My fears felt at least slightly quelled as the short intro gave way to a near-perfect chunky slam with some triplet modulations and interesting rhythms peppered throughout. At this point, I was essentially somewhere between "massively-fucking-excited" and "still-somewhat-leery," both due to my familiarity with the earlier version of the next track and my general (probably-misguided) lack of faith.

I really enjoyed "Supreme Void" with Matti on vocals, but I always felt like he phoned in his way around the lyrics, which made it tough to read along to the lyric video they released. I know this is a silly criticism because who really cares about lyrics in stuff like this, but I think it kind of points to a bigger issue within this scene... guest vocalists that just don't feel like they "belong" on the source material. I was a bit worried about the inclusion of Ángel here, too, honestly, and at first I recall thinking his performance on this was a bit lackluster upon initial listens (and it seems like there are different lyric for this track entirely because it's impossible to follow along with the original 2018 words, but I suppose that's not really here nor is it there), but after a while it felt very natural. Think about the vocals on In The End Of Human Existence. They're pretty characterless and bland, right? It feels like Ángel's gutturals here were purposely kept a little plain, and his penchant for wet, slurring, sometimes-goofy vociferations has been seemingly pretty held-back here, but I think it actually works well. Just my opinion, of course. Anyway, the track has heavier and thicker production than the 2018 version, but it's overall pretty similar outside of the vocalist switch.

The opening lurch of "Obscure Entity of Darkness" further sells the excellence of this release and is really the first taste of what you're truly in for during the remainer of the run-time. A superb mix of complex tremolo/blast sections with surprising melodies and hard-hitting slams that plod in the most satisfying way possible. The opening section of "Sphacelated Nerves" from this band's debut has long been one of my favorite slams due to its fun groove and 4/4 splash usage, and it's cool to hear that Alex's callsign of flavorful drumming has remained over the long period since the debut AP work, because the well-done fills and satisfying ride usage have really wormed their way into the mix here in a really efficient way. The crisp mix doesn't hurt either, and I have been pretty consistently impressed by how many times I've picked up small details like bass licks or subtle slam modulations I've missed each time I return to this one. And it's only been a week, so I guarantee I'll be finding more to love about this as the year proceeds.

As someone who was not really big into The Anomalies Of Artificial Origin, I was beyond happy to hear just how much this new album sounds like an energetic, adrenaline-driven mid-point between the caveman slam of In The End... and the spastic technicality of Anomalies... Vigorous, pummeling slams drive most of these tracks to extremely-visceral and satisfying places while slight deviations into chaos help it stay diverse and re-playable without seeming too unhinged. Russian slam has pretty typically been constantly teetering on the edge of "alright guys, this is a bit too much" and "yes, just do exactly that for twenty-five minutes and record it" to me, so that makes the balance this strikes all the more impressive to my trained ears.

Though it will probably take me another few weeks to distinguish these songs from one another without looking at the tracklist, each track does truly feel like a microcosm of excellent ideas pushed to extremely-logical conclusions with very little in the way of noticeable drops in quality. Unexpected twists like the deviant slam about 50 seconds into "Inorganic Infusion Protocol," the weird filter sweep part halfway into "Paroxysm," and the dark, foreboding melody that makes up a lot of the latter half of "Superior Extradimensional Decimation" lend some good delineation to these songs and make the experience feel very purposeful and well-composed, which is a prominent aspect of "one-man slam" acts that is worthy of consideration. Slam solo projects have been a common occurrence for pretty much the entirety of the time I've been into the genre, and in my opinion this is the type of music that benefits from having a single mind do a lot of the creative work because it can be such a straightforward style at its core. It's amusing that this is almost paradoxically not an example of that, considering how off-the-wall some of the stuff happening here is, but the fact that it is pretty invariably-cohesive, single-minded, and relentless speaks to Alex's talents and his growth as a writer over the long years of silence.

Overall, AP's new album is a massive slab of great slam with diverse and flourishing technicality placed at opportune moments along its lean 25 minute run-time. I think this one is going to be pretty tough to top, though several great releases have already found their way into constant rotation on my playlists so far this year; always a great sign. In terms of comparisons to other bands, this seems to owe a lot to Condemned (dark and dreary atmosphere that nevertheless feels alive and dangerous), Defeated Sanity (some songwriting choices feel Lille-esque), and Wormed (general concept as well as the marriage of technicality with chunky slams) by turns, but it really does feel like its own thing. I hope this album gets the praise it deserves, and I'm happy to highly-recommend it to anyone and everyone who loves this type of music. Hell, this has a big enough level of crossover appeal with tech death without really truly immersing into that pool that it could bring over some people who have misunderstood or otherwise not really found themselves enjoying slam over the years. This is a resounding success. Class dismissed. End of discussion.

Relevant Links:
Abominable Putridity - Parasitic Metamorphosis Manifestation (official direct Bandcamp link)
Inherited Suffering Records (official website)

Insect Inside - The First Shining of New Genus (2021; Gore House Productions)

Insect Inside is not technically a new band, but listening to the few released singles from this album a couple weeks ago before it dropped had me looking into them in order to do research for this review. Evidently, they put out a one-song demo back in 2017 and, listening to it compared to this debut, it's clear they've come quite a long way. The First Shining of New Genus is a pretty excellent first official effort by this trio of Russian slamophiles.

The album begins with a sample and atmosphere that will sound familiar to anyone who has heard the aforementioned first demo of this band, as it is the same "tortured dude screaming" sample from the end of that track. It's evocative enough, but it's obviously not until "Sickening Ground" when the true feast begins; this album wastes no time announcing its intentions with an overture of darkly-melodic chords that quickly deviate to a very satisfying groovy slam section that feels predatory and engaging. The first thing that stands out to me here is the fantastic production, which details some surprisingly-excellent bass playing and which highlights each slam with a foundational clarity that I really appreciate. Some thuggish slams and punctuated ride cymbal usage begin "Posthumous Grief," a track featuring some contributed vocals by Kevin Muller (ex-Pyrexia, currently in The Merciless Concept) that feel like they elevate this to an early album highlight. This is also the longest track, and it contains a serpentine, winding structure that even features somewhat of a "slamdown" section that is tastefully put into play.

I really enjoy the combination of clever grooves, slightly-deviated slam phrasings, and tasteful time-signature switches this band plays with on this album. Seems like Insect Inside's greatest strengths lie in their ability to switch from "tech slam" to a very lowbrow, Soils of Fate-esque primal sound at the drop of a hat. Almost every track has some form of fun breakdown or blast-slam-to-catchy-riff transition, which leads to the album having pretty-high replayability. The title track, for example, has a very straightforward, charging section of chunky riffs right in the middle that dexterously oscillate between being underscored by blastbeats and being driven by quick fills and normative grooves. This is one of those albums that brings in a lot of different ideas in each track and never really focuses too heavily on any one idea for too long. Sometimes, albums that focus on tons of individual ideas don't really come across as cohesive, but The First Shining of New Genus succeeds where many have failed because the glue that holds it together is very strong songwriting in spite of these quick changes in direction.

Vocals here are not fantastic, though, I will say, and I think one of my only misgivings here lie in how plain and unenthusiastic the vocalist's performance is. Most of what he does is quite monotonous, though every now and then, he'll descend to an extremely-guttural gurgle that I think does at least something to bring a bit of variation into the picture. That said, the vocals, even during the lower sections, sound very dry and almost cut into the slams in a way that feels a bit unfortunate. A touch of reverb or some equalization to get them integrated into the mix more would probably be a good call, but I realize this is probably nit-picking.

The second track with guest vocals is also superb, and it features Kirill of Disfigurement of Flesh (who share a drummer with this band... said drummer was also the founder of Insect Inside, just for the record) with some very solid vociferations. The breakdown at about 2:41 is one of my favorite slams in recent memory, so that definitely counts for something, and the next few tracks keep up a very high level of quality and seem to highlight the bass playing to a greater extent than the first half or so. It was a pleasure to hear Roman (of Abnormity fame) provide some solid vocals to the final track, as well. Man, Abnormity kicked ass; they're probably never coming back but bands like this are doing some killer work in their stead when it comes to Russian slam. I look forward to following the future of Insect Inside, and I'm glad Gore House Productions put this out... as I mentioned in the Infected Humans review from last week, this label seems like one to continuously watch out for, as they seem to have a good eye for upcoming talent. This is where I sign off and continue to listen to this solid-as-fuck disc on repeat... see ya next time, devotees!

Relevant Links:
Insect Inside - The First Shining of New Genus (official direct Bandcamp link)
Gore House Productions (official website)

Infected Humans - Unexpected Traumatic Experiences (2021; Gore House Productions)

Howdy all. As I get back into the swing of writing reviews of brutal death metal, I figured it'd be a good exercise to go in blind to an album, namely this one: Unexpected Traumatic Experiences, a 9 song (plus into and outro) release by a new Ecuadorian band called Infected Humans. This dropped on Gore House Productions just about a month ago, so it's some rather-freshly-served brutality to punish your eardrums with. The label in question here released one of the best slam albums in quite a while in 2020, Glam Not Slam by Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy, so I'm hoping this at least marches to a similar beat, though even if it does, it'll certainly do so in a less humorous and parodical way. One more thing about Gore House before we start: they are due to release the new Insect Inside album next Friday, and the few singles that have come out have been great. I'll link to one of those below in the Relevant Links section, but for now: onwards to the write-up!

I think Encystment is the only other Ecuadorian slam I know of (but Logan might prove me wrong: his memory of this stuff is sadly better than mine these days; just gonna blame alcohol), and their album out last year on NSE was decent enough shit, but this seems right off the bat to be a very different beast, at least after the intro provides a bit of a creepy atmosphere. The riffing in the first song, "Killing Perservately Depressed," is surprisingly deft and catchy with some suppurating melodies and unusually-haunting ringing chords providing some interest to the writing. The snare is loud, resonant, and pingy, of course, but it also has a weirdly deep tone to it that feels distracting, especially because the riffs are darkly-atmospheric and honestly quite cool.

I wish the guitar tone were a little beefier here, because some of what's happening is truly interesting and almost "epic," but it just feels like it's missing a little something to make it great. I will also say that the vocals are definitely on the mediocre side of things a lot of the time, and the lack of cadence/how amorphous they feel is disappointing. At times, it almost sounds like the guitarist belongs in a different band entirely, which is something I've noticed in some other South American (particularly Colombian) brutal death metal bands, but there are definitely also times where this comes together pretty damn well. Take 1:54 of "Bloodthirsty Sacrifice," which has a killer straightforward riff and groovy drum pattern that sticks around in your head for a bit. It's one of those sections you wish the band would develop and build on, but of course, they charge right into another track.

Luckily, the track they stumble onto is one of the better ones, "Calcining Human Flesh," and that is due in no small part to a smart, groovy intro section and an abundance of blast-slams, which are a great invention that I wish more bands would utilize. Again, however, the vocals are just not good or well-mixed, and even the guest vocal spots feel poorly handled in one capacity or another. As an aside, I'm glad the sample usage here is on the minimal end of things, but most of the time I really would just prefer that bands dispensed with sample-usage at all (other than for atmospheric purposes and only if it actually feels necessary to establish the mood of the album). Anyway, a few more tracks go by, full of well-written and cool riffs that feel generally unsupported by the rhythm section and poor vocals, until we hit the penultimate track, "Chaotic Biological Organization," which sounds totally different from the rest of the album for some reason. It's mixed differently, has weirdly-good (and quite loud) contrapuntal bass playing, and features a more groovy mood to it that I find intriguing, if unusual and "off" somehow. It's also a bit more technical by turns, with some time-signature changes and stop-on-a-dime sections that I would've liked to have heard more of peppered throughout the album. Not really sure what's going on here, but whatever. There's even a part that reminds me of The Dillinger Escape Plan or some other mathcore at about 2:35, so that's weird.

Overall, this is a fine album, but not one that is mind-blowing or spectacular. It has its strengths and its weaknesses, its moments and its misgivings. It's one of those records that I'm not sure I would particularly recommend, but it also doesn't feel like one I would tell people to avoid. Give it a shot, though, and maybe you'll dig it. Gore House Productions seems like a good label to support, and it makes me happy to see smaller slam labels start developing solid rosters. Also, definitely keep an eye on this blog for a review of the aforementioned Insect Inside once it drops next week. Until next time, stay sick and brutal!

Relevant Links:
Infected Humans - Unexpected Traumatic Experiences (official direct Bandcamp link)
Gore House Productions (official website)