The Human Complex

Brutal death metal needs a wake up call. Turn back the clocks by 5 years or so and brutal death was one of the UK's most prolific export markets. It was fiendishly difficult to walk through any city centre without stumbling upon walls of incomprehensible brutish logos glued to the architecture of every street corner, tempting you to attend the latest live romp of the slamming variety. However the times they are a changin' and the cross pollination of brutal death with its more hardcore associates, coupled with a general loss of bubbling underground interest for shimmering, technical metal has left the UK's brutal repertoire withered and waned.

One man show, Regurgitate Life exists as somewhat of an anomaly in all this, having lived through the past period of exuberance, survived the die-off and continued to quietly prosper. Despite being a veteran of live performances, “The Human Complex” marks the first actual full length that the artist has released, and to me at least it is a release which possesses just the right amount of quirkiness to ensnare the brutal death weary fanbase and capture their longing hearts.

Despite the bulk of Regurgitate Life's scaffold being build around a stoic brutal death metal foundation, main man Sammy Urwin has formulated a kingdom where the guitar riff is the uncontested imperator. Absent is the ill-defined, drum-centred composition style of his contemporaries, which praises technicality and formless brutality above all. In its place is a much more eclectic palette, combining seemingly disparate elements fairly seamlessly into a single coherent death metal idiom.

Take for instance the wondrous haunting clean vocal segment near the end of the track “To Incarcerate” which is fitted for size with oozing sludge metal chordage, before segueing into the dad rock chords of the intro to “20 Years”; this is top level stuff by anyone's yardstick, and it is done without losing focus or straying too far from the centroid of the music itself.

The middle section of “Diminish in the Shadow of the Superior One” splatters thick arpeggios upon the listener that are reminiscent of the later work of fellow countrymen Sarpanitum. This serves to set the scene for the incredible outro of same song; a pulsing major key section, like a soundtrack to a sci-fi odyssey of death metal, as feverishly dancing bass work churns beneath.

Mature, well formed musicianship are the words of the day here, but very kindly for the knuckle-draggers in the audience, Urwin includes the bombastic rhythms of bread and butter brutality. The end of the track “Patience” crushes faces with its lurching chugs, while the opening of “The Tempter” invokes the likes of Putrid Pile into the circle. Hyperspeed blasting is also ubiquitous and mostly enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I find there are a great many filler riffs on this release, which I fear are too preoccupied pleasing the simple minded. This relegates the tremendous sections of the disc to lesser stature as they become diluted in riffs and sections which perhaps shouldn't have passed the filter unaltered. Furthermore, the band fails to escape or sidestep all of the cliches associated with its genre, and insistent, annoying bass drops appear fairly regularly between changes in rhythm.

The programmed drums are also a marmite deal, as they frequently tread into the land of absurd speed, thus dragging any riff they may be accompanying to absurdity too. There is also too little variety or breakup in many of the blast templates, which become predictable fairly quickly.

So, “The Human Complex” is a very strong release which breaks many of the traditions of its overarching school of death metal, but in some regards does not quite sever enough of these ties with enough totality to entirely stand as a beacon. A firm nod and a pat on the back is duly awarded, and a middling seat within 1st class is yours for the taking.

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