Germany keeps producing great death metal outfits and one of my latest discoveries has been Disgusting Perversion from Bavaria. Having been formed in 2013 the first sign of life came as an EP in 2015. After five years of silence (at least as far as official releases are concerned) they have just released their full length debut “Eternity of Death”. Based on the band name, the logo, the song titles and the cover artwork it is not too hard to guess what kind of music you can expect when throwing the disc into the player. What you see is what you get, and in this case this is absolutely fine as we are talking about a nice slab of old school death metal.
Disgusting Perversion play a good mix of 90s US style death metal, enhanced by influences from European greats like Grave, Asphyx and also including some Gothenburg touches. The basic riffs are often fast and aggressive, but sometimes also slow and more stoic. The chords have a pretty simple and straight-forward feel to them most of the time, but there are some cleverly implemented variations of the main themes, as well as some tempo and rhythm changes and a few more unorthodox ideas to mix things up a bit.
The riffing is very tight and the basis chords vary between the traditional stoic chops and a more thrashy and uplifting style. The interplay between the main chords and the melodic lead parts are what makes this album stand out from the pack. There are not too many really long and drawn-out solo sections although the skills of the musicians are obviously top notch. Instead of boring the consumer to tears with complicated breaks or too much noodling around these melodic interludes are cleverly used as bridges between various parts of one song and often act as transition from faster and more aggressive sections to calmer and groovier parts.
Some of the tracks are of course more memorable than others, but in the end this album is fun to listen to from start to finish. The songwriting is pretty much spot on and there are a lot of haunting and very intense moments, but also some catchy hooks pitched against the pummeling attacks that are going to stick with the listener after the first spin. There are only very few moments where I had the feeling that the band could have come to the point a bit faster, as they have tried to implement a lot of different ideas into some of the songs.
The drumming is on point without sounding too hectic or nervous. There is nothing overly flashy about the music, with some aggressive parts subtly implemented without disturbing the flow of the album. Generally speaking there is a very special groove to the music, making it the perfect soundtrack for driving in the car or working out.
“Eternity of Death” is rounded off by the great vocals of singer Stefan, who delivers his raspy growls and some screaming parts with a lot of enthusiasm, and a perfectly fitting production, lending the album a thick and punchy, yet not too sterile sound. Disgusting Perversion are for sure a band to watch out for the future and I would not be surprised to see them landing a deal with a label like e.g. FDA for the follow-up release.