Generalized Death Drive

Generalized Death Drive is an EP by the French death metal outfit, Sharked. Sharked play a hi-octane moshcore style of death metal with thrash influence. "Great, more of this bland, generic death/thrash bullshit!", you say? Well, it might be a bit generic but bland? Fuck no! Here's why:

The crunchy, breakneck, razor-sharp riffage will tear your goddamn mug off. Despite some very familiar death/thrash riffs making up most of this EP, the more inventive ones bust out time and time again.The drums are absolutely blistering, blasting and thrashing away relentlessly, keeping things fast and aggressive at all times. Most of the songs build towards a crushing mid-part stomp before returning to the unhinged yet playful fury.The primary vocals employed here are a low growl and hardcore shout hybrid which reminded me of Deicide's Glenn Benton a bit. Not far behind are the high screams which are reminiscent of deathcore screeching. These piercing screams over the massive riffs and pummeling drum-work are supremely pleasing at certain instances. Often dual layering is utilized for added effect. Considering the band has a full-time member handling samples/audio snippets, her efforts feel somewhat underutilized. The samples are used sparingly and don't make much of an impact on the overall sound or at least as much as one would expect.

The longest song clocks in at 3:12 and the whole thing is over within approximately 15 minutes offering half a dozen tracks. During this miniscule run-time one can hear influences ranging from Hatebreed, Ghoul, Sepultura and fucking Slayer! etc.

I can't really find much fault with Generalized Death Drive because everything sounds awesome and tells me to get off my ass and start a living room moshpit. Although I hear a shit-tonne of extreme metal I don't usually get the impulse to bang my fucking head off but this 'piece' invoked that primal urge throughout its run-time. Pick this up if you like your death metal speedy, thrashy and not overly dark or serious.