死膚断

Japanese death metal band Gyakuki has released its fourth demo in five years. It's entitled Shini Hada Dachi. The gloomy cover artwork is quite intriguing while the three songs with a total running time of eight minutes offer the trademarks the band has established through its first three outputs.

This release convinces with diversified drumming, simple and brutal riffs and particularly low growls that make think of an evil frog. The tracks include a few interesting rhythm and tempo changes that keep the listening experience interesting. There are some spoken-word sections and cleverly interwoven background vocals in the closing tune that make it the most remarkable one on this output.

The production sounds slightly better than in the past without neglecting the genre's raw approach which is a great deal both for genre fans and occasional listeners. However, there is still room for improvement since the guitars sound a little bit distant at times, the bass guitar is barely audible and the vocals are a little bit too dominant in the mixture. The production got rid of noisy distortions and canny percussions which is a significant step forward. This goes along with the musicianship that also shows more experience and maturity.

In the end, Gyakuki's fourth demo is a slightly above average brutal death metal release that shows some promise with its improved songwriting in form of rhythm and tempo changes. The low vocals are also quite distinctive. The band is certainly on the right track to establish its very own approach to the genre. After four demos, the time might have come to release a proper full length effort in the future.