Serial Urbicide

“Oh, look,” I hear you say, rolling your eyes so hard you can see your own frontal lobe. “Another slam band with a gory name with gory cover art and gory song titles. How interesting.”

Hold the sarcasm, Mr. Negative! What we have here is something amazing. Brutal death metal with lots of slams and lots of ferocious energy! And when I say energy, I mean fuckin’ energy. This album doesn’t just slam at half-pace, but also produces some intense brutal death with some fantastic drumming to boot. I’m certain that the energy here is helped along by the immense production job. Everything is loud and there’s no room to really move or take a breath. This is a strong contributor to why the album remains strong throughout. The drumming is loud but not overpowering, and the guitars sound thick and meaty, whether they’re slamming their way through a song, or become more riff-based.

Another element in this album are the bass drops. It’s full of them. If you’re not a fan of them, you might want to pass this album, but personally they provide the listener with some added brutality. Some of them last a fair while, too, such as one in “Serial Urbicide” that interferes with the music for longer than five seconds. It’s sure to infuriate some potential fans of this, however if you’re like me and don’t mind the elongated bass drops, then you’re sure to get a massive kick out of it. And a massive kick is what they deliver. The abundant supply of bass drops, some at crucial times, too (think the closing section of “Gutted Face” which is guaranteed to induce headbanging) maintain a level of intensity that’s hard to find in slam death. My favourite bass drop on the album might be the one in “Survival” where the low end disappears for a second before it happens, and then explodes in again to round out the song with a massive riff. Not just fantastic, but also shows a level of song writing that Extermination Dismemberment have.

Picking out individual songs for special mention is not easy, nor is it really necessary. After the intro, you’ve got nine songs that sound similar to each other, but have the individuality to separate them into their own entity. Serial Urbicide is best played as a whole, rather than picking out separate songs and listening to them on their own. It’s better digested as a whole story, and probably more interesting that way because you can see how the songs flow from one to another, which is actually really expertly done.

There’s certainly not a lot wrong here, but if I had to pick one thing, the vocals are a basic standard growl. More interestingly, however, songs like “Survival” and “Bloodbath Religion” show a more legible vocal style that’s sadly not used in most other songs, particularly in the first half. I’m not sure why, because they are a better choice to use for most of the album, but are only selectively utilised. Mind you, his regular vocal style fits really well within the context of the music, but in future I would like to hear the less guttural version more often.

In all honesty, though, I’m nitpicking there. If you’re after slam bands that invoke some savage vivacity, Serial Urbicide is one album that shouldn’t be overlooked. With the crazy energy portrayed throughout the album – from the thick production to the busy drumming to the intense slams to the effective bass drops – this album deserves way more recognition, and stands very tall among other slam bands that wish they were half this good.