Otakuslam​♡​Animecide

Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship. What a name indeed, eh? I mean seriously what does that even mean? But honestly the name matters not, for this band has done nothing but release bangers. I first came across them awhile back on Slam Worldwide with their EP “U’ Sick”. But you’re not here to watching me ramble on about how I found the band, you’re here to hear about the masterpiece that is this album.

Now when you think “Anime Slam” you probably think of some garbage put together by a few losers with nothing better to do. In fact, most “anime slam” has nothing do with anime. There could be anime lyrical themes or audio clips in songs, but nothing out the overall song structure or sound has anything to do with anime. This is where DIW takes a much different approach. Instead of being lazy and throwing some garbage riffs and anime audio clips together and calling it a day, DIW really injects anime into their sound. How you might ask? I’ll give some examples. All the guitar solos in the album actually sound like something you would find in an anime intro. You’ll be listening to some fast and hard slams, but then suddenly it sounds like I’m watching an idol anime. Another example is how they take parts of anime intros and turn them into riffs to add to the song. DIW did this the most on their original EP, which is why they weren’t added to metallum because they were considered a cover band.

You may be thinking to yourself, “This is interesting and all, but do they even have good riffs and what not?”, well of course they do. DIW managed to still have a recognizable sound in ways that don’t involve their anime influences. This album is very technical, it’s got a lot of alien noises and other types of modern tech death bullshit. It also has a lot of groovy ass riffs. Even within slam as a whole genre, the riffs stand out. Tracks like “Smoke Halation” have some sick slow grooves.

This album has a lot of guest vocalists on it, and when I mean a lot, I mean every fucking song except for an intrumental track. Vocalists such as Tom Barber of Chelsea Grin and the former Vulvodynia vocalist, Duncan Bentley. I don’t know the reasoning for this, but it’s interesting seeing Tom Barber to slam vocals. Speaking of vocals, Kiryu Zhang, the vocals for DIW, kicks absolute ass. His pig squeals are high and his gutturals are damn low. He’s definitely one of the most underrated slam vocalists out there, and I’d love to see him get featured on some more popular bands.

Overall this album is fucking sick. If you hate anime then tracks like “Nine Infected Entrails” and “Eien Parasites” won’t be tracks you’ll like. But if you do like anime, then consider the previous sentence as a list of recommendations. I mean there’s so much great stuff in this album. Everything about it is so perfect and I’m extremely excited for the day DIW releases their next masterpiece.

Final Score: 100%

Favorite track: Eien Parasites