“Twitch of the Death Nerve is a modern brutal death metal band from jolly old England, beginning in 2004 and, including sophomore release A Resting Place for the Wrathful, have two full-lengths and one split contribution to their name. By the time their first full-length dropped in 2014, death metal had gone through effectively every relevant mutation – their influences are vast and plenty.” Wrath never sleeps.
“In popular music, the West Coast is known for the smooth, extravagant, and maximal productions of Dr. Dre, while the East Coast is known for the grimy, gritty, and dusty productions of Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA. I prefer the latter, and when it comes to slam, travelling further East gets me the grotesquery I crave.” Slam of the rising sun.
![Horrific Demise – Excruciating Extermination [Things You Might Have Missed 2019]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Horrific-Demise-Excruciating-Extermination-01.jpg)
“It’s winter again, and Ulver’s first three records express the beauty and wonder of the season that left us when we grew up and got annoyed at clearing a foot of snow off our cars so we can dutifully trudge to work. Horrific Demise’s debut record Excruciating Extermination conjures a world where Harambe comes back and decides to use your scrotum as a speedbag. That’s right, it’s one of these again.” Ouch.
“The good folks at Comatose Music traffic almost exclusively in brutal death metal, so their promo team needs to get creative. It won’t surprise you that Purulent Necrosis is brutal death metal—that morbid word salad (with feta) is what brutal band names are made of. I commend Comatose on their promotion of Cadaverized Humanity though—upon its release, according to the label, “indiscriminate killing on an unprecedented scale is sure to follow.” Kill for your music.
“Torture. As essential to death metal lyrics as it is to oppressive regimes the world over, the simple desire to exact pain has spawned countless obscene and horrific technologies. Strappado take their name from one in which the hands are tied behind the back and the victim is then suspended by them. There’s a lineage of bands out there named after torture devices that – as far as I know – starts with Iron Maiden, but Strappado are pretty far down the line from these forebears musically, instead acting as a sibling to the departed but influential Brodequin.” Welcome to the rack.
“Our very own Eldritch Elitist recently posited that death metal is at its peak when following either one of two separate paths: an unapologetic flogging or creative innovation. He’s not wrong. But there is also a third route worthy of consideration. The one unashamedly paved with the gilded bones of the genre’s revered forefathers. How do we quantify those bands who patch their material together from piecemeal legacy? It’s an easy approach to snub, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest the potential for success.” Ripping off the oldies.
“Heaviness is in the ear of the beholder, and you and I just know heavy when we hear it. To me, Devourment is rather heavy; to someone whose understanding of metal begins and ends with Disturbed, Devourment is just noise, and is therefore not heavy. Even this may prove contentious, because some people think “noise” as a genre is legitimately extreme and heavy. Slayer gets ridiculously heavy, both in their old stuff (“At Dawn They Sleep”) and new material (“Catatonic”). I’ve never found sludge to be all that heavy, despite sounding weighty and lacking in treble as it often does. Despite playing guitar in a metalcore band years ago, my younger sibling doesn’t pass muster on this scale; he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. I cannot produce a definition of heavy in extreme metal, nor can you. We can merely tell people what is and isn’t heavy through bands and songs.” The heaviest matter of the universe.
![Kill Everything – Scorched Earth [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Kill-Everything-Scorched-Earth-001.jpg)
“Saying something slams so hard that it sounds like getting disemboweled with a chainsaw while being force-fed a live colony of bees is more convincing and appealing than saying that a slam record has a bunch of killer riffs, is well-structured, and is worth listening to. In that spirit, Kill Everything’s debut album Scorched Earth sounds like bungee-jumping with your own intestines after having your skull caved in by a club.” Is this a good thing?
“Luckily, death metal comes in so many intriguing varieties catering for differing tastes, ensuring the genre is never wanting for quality acts, from veteran enforcers to talented upstarts. But I hold particular respect for the underdog veteran acts toiling away in relative obscurity, keeping it real in the underground. One such act is Russian death metal juggernaut Aborted Fetus, returning in quick time with their sixth LP of groovy, straightforward brutality, entitled The Ancient Spirits of Decay.” Leave it to Fetus.
“In what is sure to be a heart-stopping shock to readers, I’m embarking upon a mid-length review of a brutal death metal album from Italy that I’m not terribly fond of. Gasp and swoon though you may, if you survey recent examples of Italian brutal death metal reviewed in this august publication, the Kronos name is not too thick in the ground, and that’s intentional. I’m a devout opponent of the style of brutal death pioneered by Hour of Penance and copied by so many of their Mediterranean peers and do my best to avoid reviewing death bands who play in the style simply because it’s a lose-lose situation.” Death in Venice (or nearby).
