Drowned by Blood

Normally coming onto the scene from seemingly nowhere and sporting the name of a well-respected and now defunct band would come with a heavy cost, but the benefit of the doubt can be given when considering the limited number of ways to string together words in the English language, not to mention that the last thing everyone needs it another twenty syllable mouthful of medical jargon denoting a band's lyrical obsession. Nevertheless, a band like Sentenced naturally comes into the mix with a few eyebrows raised, thus comes the expectation of something relatively fresh to cool any potential skepticism, and on that front Drowned By Blood proves to be a surprisingly fresh take on a style that doesn't necessarily lend itself to innovation.

The basic nuts and bolts of this blood-soaked excursion into the obscene is an extremely concise composite of just about every exaggerated extremity of the extreme, hence warranting the run-on alliteration. Each song compresses two or three different sub-genres of death metal and hardcore and throws them into the proverbial grinder, coming out with several short numbers that are just long enough to pass for actual songs while avoiding any kind of side action or guitar soloing. The dominant influence is the slamming grooves of fellow UK brutal crews Capitol Punishment and Ingested, which dovetails quite nicely with the side order of hardcore influences that are largely exhibited in the schizophrenic vocals, shifting between pig squeals and percussive grunts with the ebb and flow of each section.

Occasionally things launch into a frenetic set of traditional death metal riffing along the lines of Jungle Rot and early Cannibal Corpse, which function almost like guitar solos since the vocals are usually absent. Particularly on the closing and title song "Drowned By Blood" this sense of traditionalism is quite a welcome change of pace from the trudging stomps and incomprehensible vocalizations, as is the highly prevalent bass in the mix given this style generally downplays said instrument. Case and point being the brief intro of "Bloodstained Butchery", which gives a nice little nod to old school hardcore reinterpreted through a muddy, modern death metal lens before shifting into overdrive and letting the Cannibal Corpse-inspired mayhem trade blows with the groovy breakdowns.

Compared to a fair number of stripped down, bare bones, just enough ideas to cut it bands out there sporting the brutal badge, Sentenced puts together a fairly solid showing on their first full length endeavor, which is admittedly about the length of most EPs and is over almost as quickly as it begins. The chief flaw is basically tied to the style itself, which is executed quite well, but betrays a sort of instant gratification and impact, followed by a sense of wanting more to have happened. If this thing had been longer and a bit more expansive, it probably could have traded blows with the likes of Pathology and Defeated Sanity, admittedly bands that take things in more of a technical direction, but ones that also mix things up a lot more and create highly engaging versions of this style.