The Partisan Turbine

This seems like probably some of the heaviest music I can think of, and it certainly isn't the easiest to listen to in terms of its heaviness. There is a lot of decent stuff in this album that will keep the listener to want to hear more, but it gets boring and/or awkward at different points in each track. This has a very heavy lean towards a deathcore sound like Molotov Solution and a slam death sound like Devourment. This album is however more technical than Devourment, and heavier in content than Molotov Solution which isn't a band I would consider truly deathcore all the way through. The Partisan Turbine also shows a lean towards a grindcore sound combined with the other elements.

This album is very heavy in terms of instrumentation with the guitars and vocals being highest in the production, and the bass and drumming being very low in the production with the latter being almost inaudible at times. The guitarists play some very crushing, detuned riffs which tend to be very power chord based. You hear a lot of deathcore and brutal death metal oriented riffs that churn and weave around in a rather simplistic manner, but that simplicity gets cut down when the band starts playing a more death/grind oriented sound, with heavy tremolo riffs. There is a very noticeable hardcore influence in the guitars with open note chords being played, and there is a flavorful use of breakdowns here, but it tends towards a much more technical sound than your average deathcore act. The guitar solos presented are quite brutal and difficult to understand, they sound rather sloppy and don't compliment the music well. The vocalist utilizes a range of vocals, but predominately utilizes low guttural exhale growls. He is quite versatile in the kinds of growls he uses, and makes a more black metal oriented scream which you can hear often in different grindcore bands. He utilizes inhales and guttural inhales at different points as well, and they're subsequently the most boring parts in terms of the sound quality combined with the guitars and the almost indistinguishable drumming. The drumming... It's very difficult to hear, you have to pay close attention the hear the blast beats and it sounds like a lot of filler, like the drummer is simply just being a metronome for this guitar heavy production. The drummer plays some tasteful patterns when they can be made sense of. It is rather sad in all honesty that the bass and drumming is very low and difficult to distinguish on this album.

It seems like the band decided to focus solely on guitar work and vocals on this album because those are the best qualities this album presents. Both are quite varied and entertaining, yet both get rather boring on occasion. They should really have allowed the drummer and bassist shine, it would have added that extra punch this album needs. Despite the good qualities presented in the top heavy production, it's weight makes it fall directly on it's face and it often fails to be entertaining because its rather monotonous with the focus on power chord riffings like slams. If you're looking for a solid brutal death metal album you're going to be bored out of your mind with this, but if you're into slam and core music you'll probably enjoy this. I certainly found it rather lacking and awkward in its content, but I wouldn't say I hate it, its definitely worth listening to.