Spewing the Violated Souls

It’s been a while since I heard a competent Disgorge (US) clone. One that got me excited. The last time that happened was a few years back, when I stumbled upon Pathology‘s ‘Incisions of Perverse Debauchery’. They were taking the said brutality and delivering it with added panache. The vocals of ex-Disgorge member Levi Fuselier on that album helped. Fast forward to circa 2015. Maggot Colony from Taiwan (!) are venturing into the same realm and are doing it better than any of their peers now.

They’ve infused the slammy element in a way that it’s part of the overall sound and the momentum remains undiminished. It’s not like Devourment, but more like Gorgasm channelled through Abominable Putridity using the brutality template of Disgorge circa ‘She Lay Gutted’. What Maggot Colony have done exceptionally well is adding loads of variations, not too unlike recent Disentomb or Gorgasm, so the slab of brutality is actually intricate but ultimately effective. A lot of thought (yes), has gone into the song structuring and that’s how each of them works. ‘Spewing the Violated Souls’ has only three songs but they seem to go on for much longer than they actually do. Every little variation and breakdown makes the whole process fleshed out and gripping. I wonder whether the album would’ve been as good had it been in the longer full length format – these three songs remain tasteful as ever even upon multiple listens and banging your brains out.

The first song grabs you by the balls and tosses you around over and over again and yet you keep coming back for more like a human yo-yo. The brutality is delectable. It’s the overall sound, the brutal aesthetic, that makes it so. Substance is essential yes, but if it had more technicality and less brutality, it probably wouldn’t have been as impactful. The other two songs represent a similar yet different dimension in brutality and overall this EP is as good as it can get. It probably rivals the class of ‘Cranial Impalement’ albeit with added aggression and brutality. Back then this style of music was a novelty, and now there are hordes. But if it’s done this flawlessly well, it’s hard for me to not write on about it. Perhaps being from Taiwan and signed to a German label (Rising Nemesis Records) won’t have the hype as big as some US bands enjoy, but this easily surpasses them at their own trade, so to speak. Most brutal death metal bands there have started to stagnate or get worse. It’s time for bands like Maggot Colony, Coprocephalic, Maximize Bestiality and Extermination Dismemberment to take forward this style of music, fusing slam parts but without compromising on the guttural brutality.

Maggot Colony have honed their art a lot more by adding better speed, dynamics, a human drummer and achieving better overall cohesion since their last full length ‘Perpetuating the Viral Infestation’. The songwriting is one of the best in the style now and so is their presentation and production. It’s just near flawless. Perhaps the vocals could do with more variations and the music sounds a tad too similar but these are minor shortcomings in the face of an album that’s one of the year’s best.

Written for Transcending Obscurity webzine - www.tometal.com