Visions of Death and Destruction

For my very first review I am going to cover a band I discovered through late night browsing on Youtube of drum videos awhile back. Garoted drummer Nolan Weber's drumming performance of the closing track "Vigils of Suicide" blew me the fuck away and was more than enough to make me want to get hold of the album just to hear him shred a kit, and lucky for anyone with tastes for good brutal death metal the whole band fucking kills!

Before I tackle the music I'll comment on the physical album which from what I can gather is only available on tape. Myself, this is the last format I'd want to buy but I wanted to hear it badly enough I bought it without second thought. I immediately hooked an old tape deck to my recording setup and made a digital copy for myself cause who carries a walkman anymore? This is really my only gripe with the lack of options for ordering as I would've much preferred a CD or at least digital.

After a lengthy intro that I actually ended up skipping (I like my intros short and to the point), the music kicks in with "Raping Benevolence" and rape the eardrums it indeed does! They waste no time getting straight to what they do best; pummel the listener with pure sonic brutality comparable to a line of tanks firing upon you. This album is filled with some of the most intense drumming and riffing I've heard in awhile that is balance out in spots with solid groove sections bringing the intensity down a bit to make the impact of the madness that much greater. They even throw in a unexpected curve ball with the Tom Araya-esque falsetto in "Morbid Sacrilege" that brings in one of the most break neck sections of the album, and returns halfway through "The Altar of Detriment" as they touch on a more old-school vibe. The album never lets up from front to back ending with a more black metal riff in "Vigils of Suicide" that fades out leaving the listener completely annihilated.

I detect influences from bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Vital Remains, Angelcorpse and even a hint of Portal with some of the darker, murkier riffing. The production accentuates the slight Portal vibe I get in these riffs as the sound of this album is perfectly murky and dark for the band's particular brand of death metal, something that I think makes the album stand out among many other brutal death metal bands out there. There's no bullshit going on here as the tape's insert says, this is pure and raw death metal, not boring plastic sounding over produced dog shit! Each member is very adept at their individual instruments/role within the band and as mentioned before, Nolan Weber is a goddamn drumming terminator! In my opinion they have crafted an album near perfection having great skill in songwriting. I hope to see these guys get more attention as I think they'd fit well on labels such as Dark Descent and Hell's Headbangers. I HIGHLY recommend this release!

9.5/10

(Originally written for http://scottsmetalreview.blogspot.com/)