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Bestial Mockery / Unholy Massacre > Eve of the Bestial Massacre > Reviews > IrishDeathgrip
Bestial Mockery / Unholy Massacre - Eve of the Bestial Massacre

Brazilian Brutality! - 78%

IrishDeathgrip, September 21st, 2016

This is a neat little split album, bringing together two Brazilian groups that, on the surface, may not seem to have much in common. Bestial Mockery is a black metal group that was in it's tenth year when this was recorded, while Unholy Massacre was a death metal group, generally the pet project of the vocalist, with a lineup of musicians that wasn't very stable. At first glance, it would seem like a strange split, bringing together a black metal and death metal group, two genres that are commonly thought to be opposite ends of the extreme metal spectrum. However, when you listen to the album in it's entirety, it becomes painfully clear, HEAVILY clear, that the true unifying element between the two groups is THRASH! Both of these groups are paying serious tribute to the thrash elements of the past that are a clear and constant influence on their styles.

The Bestial Mockery side I feel is better overall, with a very raw production, but still clear enough to give all the instruments their own presence in the mix. Old school thrash riffs partnered with serious black metal style, it resembles Sodom or Bathory, with a bit more of a brutal crunch. Clearly these guys were going for the feel of the early wave of black metal, and they nail it! If you played this for someone, they would have no trouble believing it was a black metal group from 1988. Cymbals are possibly a little louder than necessary, but otherwise the mix is damn good, there is just enough crunch to the bass to make it audible, the vocalist has a grim, raspy deliver that can go from a guttural grunting to a soaring shriek. And surprisingly, you can ALMOST UNDERSTAND HIM! All of this together makes Bestial Mockery the stars of this split offering. I would give their side a 4 outta 5!

On the other side we hear Unholy Massacre, who starts with an ambient bit of guitar before ripping into their fiery form of death thrash. Like the other side, this is obviously influenced by some heavy thrash from the past. And like the first half, the production is raw... Unfortunately, the mix for this group of songs doesn't make it. The drums are muddy and poorly equalized, with the fast parts sounding like they drop in volume while the slower drumming is way too loud. On top of that, this drummer had serious issues with time keeping, and is constantly having to catch up or fall back. Clearly the drums were not recorded first, or no click track was used. Disappointing to say the least.

The guitars and bass sound like they are competently played, but the bass is mixed way too loudly, while having a strange weak presence. Almost like it was recorded through a guitar amp and then turned way up in post to compensate for a lack of depth. The only time you can hear the guitars well over the drums and bass are when a god awful attempt at a solo occurs. This happens only about 3 times, and they are all fairly short, but unimpressive and irritating as hell. Did I mention the drummer can't keep time? It's seriously so bad, it makes these songs almost unlistenable. Which is a shame, because they are not BAD death metal. This was just a bad way to present them.

The saving grace for this side of the split are the consistently powerful vocals. Very much a style of death growls somewhere between the growls of mid 90s death metal, and the shrieking rasps of mid 90s black metal. Consistent and brutal vocals, intense and well matched to the feeling of the tracks... Unholy Massacre obviously wrote some good, thrashy, death metal for this split, but their offerings were marred by uneven production and an awful, overwhelmed drummer who just couldn't make the part. Their side gets 2 out of 5.

I would definitely recommend this split, but mostly for the Bestial Mockery half. Hopefully Unholy Massacre found a way to record their tracks under different circumstances, because they definitely have good material. It just so happens this was not the best way it could have been presented.