Bloodstained Curse: Dead Remains Devoured (噬尸血咒)

"Visual brutal death metal from Xi'an, China" is written on this band's Bandcamp page, which fits the band image on the archives, with a focus on costuming. I somewhat wish I could see this band live for an idea of what their show is like, and see if they do anything really theatrical. I have found a single video, 30 seconds long of this band playing, and their stage movements don't seem too unique, other than there are two vocalists, but do seem to have some energy.

But if you like very cleanly produced slam, this album is for you. I can never take bands with this much production cleanliness very seriously though. The guitars are either played very cleanly, or have some level of computer augmentation, the drums are maxed out, perfectly grid aligned, and the bass is barely audible. It's present, but it doesn't stand out. At times, even the vocals sound pitch shifted, but I don't actually know how much control a vocalist might have over the pitches of pig squeals, so take that one with a pinch of salt.

Despite all this, though, I actually like the album. I don't love it, I wouldn't die for it, but it's fun. All of the over production gives it this feel of silliness that seems to be mirrored in the song and riff writing. They use breakdowns and chug riffs indiscriminately, which I have complained about in the past, but in this case it's alright, since it really is just chug riffs and breakdowns with occasional tremolo riffs. The breakdowns that caught my attention were in track [MELODIC PIG SQUEALS BREAKDOWN SONG] and track 5, since they were so unbelievable that I believe the band doesn't take themselves too seriously either. I'll keep myself ignorant to the truth of that, because if they do take themselves seriously, my opinion on this album would drastically plummet.

This really is a fun album if you need to listen to something silly but heavy. I stated my favorite parts during the previous paragraph, so I feel it would be redundant to list those down here like I usually do. I suppose I think the riffs are very solid, so I do wish I could hear a version of this album a little dirtier around the edges, with human drums, because then I might think it would not just be a decent album, but a great one. I'll never know until I hear that, though.