Lack Of Truth - Under The Torn Flesh - 2013 Death Metal Industry

Lack Of Truth is a Brutal Death Metal band from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, pumping out straightforward BDM with an old school style that is infectious and addictive. Under The Torn Flesh is their first full length, following a 2010 demo release entitled Graveyard of Fools. Graveyard of Fools contains three songs that also appear here on the full length, so this is a fine place to start. It is about 30 minutes of original, creative Brutal Death Metal that most brings to mind Disgorge making slow, passionate love to Defeated Sanity.  Before even hearing this, I was excited by the cover art. It just has that original old school feel. The art is done by Regurgitated Arts, operating out of Murmansk, Russia.

I have listened to this album many, many times and every time it seems to shine in different ways. I really like how it is recorded and mixed, particularly the bass. Valentin Khramtsov does an amazing job filling out the low end here with a super thick, shaky bass tone that can be perfectly heard without being overbearing. Guitarist Sergey Minaev shows his diverse riffing abilities with flawless transitions from fast, all over the neck riffs to slower, chugging, slams with pinch harmonics. The drums get a little tiring and at a couple specific times feel like they are struggling to keep up. Alexey Grigoriev is the man behind the set, and he can definitely drum. He has some creative fills and shows some subtle intricate blast and double bass work, not to mention that snare tone. Vocally, Under The Torn Flesh is a display of all natural, deep gutturals mixed with mid range squeals and a few chorus-esque parts where you can absolutely make out what is being said. What really stands out though are the vocal patterns. Vocalist Alexey Remizov is obviously passionate about what he is doing here. It is always nice to hear original and creative vocals and vocal patterns in a genre where that sort of thing is so overlooked. Everything's really tight and I like the raw production, specifically the raw drum sound.

Only complaint is the quickly fading endings to each song. For an album with such well written songs, it's a shame to break the flow of the whole thing with such a small mistake. The mistake is exactly that though, small. Definitely pick this up. It is really well put together with good song writing that will keep any BDM fan entertained. Any doubts I had about certain parts of the album upon first listens were shortly thereafter falsified.   After a few listens, every thing just falls into place and becomes very catchy. Brutal Death Metal needs more bands like this that are original and work hard in the riff department without just slamming your face off all the time. That's another story for another time, if you want only slams, it's out there in disgusting abundance. This is rare, innovate Brutal Death that will remind you of why you fell in love with it in the first place.

Derogation- Revival Of A Nest Ignorant - 2013 Permeated Records

Art by Regurgitated Arts

On September 30th, 2013, Derogation's "Revival Of A Nest Ignorant" will be unleashed upon the world.  For a release this short, it is really full of awesome and memorable parts.  I am a huge fan already.

Kiev, Ukraine's Derogation come at you with a riffing style similar to Defeated Sanity and a technical prowess that begs many listens; super technical sweeping and tapping parts that teeter on the edge of too much.  It's just really just good writing though.
Some of the all over the place riffs, the beginning of "Abhorrent Fornication" for example, takes me back to the old days when Decrepit Birth were still awesome and original.

Ex Defeated Sanity vocalist Jens Cannibaloki Staschel has found a wonderful new home in Derogation.  His familiar vocals do a really nice job of keeping things creative and disgusting.  The god behind the guitar is Vlad Melnik (Neurogenic, Back Door To Asylum), perfectly partnered up with bassist Alexander Chub (Hedonistic Exility).  The bass tone is wonderfully warm throughout and this guy can really play.  Lev Kurgansky (Ezophagothomia) hold things down behind the drums with blasts and tight fills that ensure to keep your attention.  

You get 5 tracks in total.  The last song is a cover and the second to last is just atmospheric noise.  When all is said and done you end up with around 10 minutes of original material from Derogation, but it's the most technically proficient brutal death metal I've heard in a very long time.

My only complaint is the length of this album.  We can only hope there is much more of this on the way, and soon!

For fans of Defeated Sanity, Decrepit Birth, or Disgorge

REGURGITATED ARTS

PERMEATED RECORDS

DEROGATION

Weakness - Demo 2009 - R.I.P.

This Russian slam outfit released a very promising demo, were immediately signed to Pathologically Explicit records, and then disappeared.





This is an incredibly impressive and well written DEMO and I am saddened this group came to a sudden end!  I am not really going to write about it.  Take 6 minutes and check it out.

LISTEN TO THE DEMO HERE

Created From Pig's Mutilation- Inception of Abhorrent Creation - 2011 Demo

I first learned about this band from this video of them in their rehearsal room.  I was immediately impressed by the feeling and writing of the track.  Also, it looks like they have a really great rehearsal room!  I was left wanting more and thinking to myself, “how does one pronounce CxFxPxMx?”

After some research into the matter I discovered the band’s full name,

COPROEXHUMOCOATHGASM

FISTOLECTONYCHOMICOSIS 

PARACOCCIGASTROVOMIT 

MUCOSPERMOSUBUNGUAL.

I was left thinking to myself “what the fuck?”



Since, they have changed their name to Created From Pigs Mutilation and they have put out a demo titled “Inception of Abhorrent Creation”




Overall, this demo feels like a rather well thought out and executed first take of a young bands attempt of an album.  Instead of pumping out a demo that feels like pieces to a few different puzzles, Inception Of Abhorrent Creation feels like the whole puzzle.  While it may still be missing a few corner pieces, it is proof that there are great things to come from this Italian three piece of self proclaimed ‘diseaseful slamming brutality’.
     

The first track, “Starting To Devour Human Entrails” starts with an intro of what sounds like the slaughter of pigs.  This intro was created by IntroMania, a production company that creates intros and soundtracks for bands or movies.  Then we have a pretty basic brutal death guitar, drum, vocal part that leads into a build-up that seems to promise a much harder hitting slam than it delivers.  This is fitting though, it feels like a warm up to the oncoming insanity.  This track really explores a lot of territory with tempo changes but not overwhelmingly so.  I really like when a band can do a lot with simplicity.  The drums for example, are simple in the most complex, precise meaning of the word.  It has become so easy and common to bypass the human drummer.  This of course has it’s pros and cons but that is a different discussion entirely.  Nonetheless, Alessandro Garofalo, CxFxPxMx guitarist and drum programmer, is a master at staying simple, tasteful, consistent, and just really good.  All of the above actually cancels out the word simple, but it was a necessary adjective in this case.  I really like the vocals also, at times reminding me of Martin from Kraanium.

“Purulent Sodomy Of Putrid Streetwalker’s Flesh” is definitely the best song name I’ve heard in awhile.  The song is very good as well and sort of reminds me of the Italian scene all together, with it’s great vocals and bass parts.   It is catchy, fun and relentlessly blasts forward with thick and slimy guitar riffs and a groovy bass line that sets you up for a sort of marching section where everything blends beautifully.  This song is complete with simple parts, complex parts in every instrument, and variety in vocals.

Italy seems to be a simmering crock pot full of brutal death/slam bands, be it one man or not, human drummer or not, they are almost always decent and seem to consistently pump out new music.  They also, like any region with a growing scene, have similarities.  This could be largely due to Mario Di Giambattista and his million or so projects.  Alessandro Garofalo also has more bands than one hand can count.  I am happy to see people being this active in their scene and showing such blunt passion for the music!
     

Sometimes it can be very difficult to include a track less than 30 seconds long on your demo when you are not a grindcore outfit.  Well they’ve done it here with “Precocious Dismemberment”, 14 seconds, actually, and it is still creative and has a lot within!  Then “Human Stew” comes charging at you with a brutal assault of guitar and bass slams.  The band again uses a simple concept often forgot about, dynamics.  The guitar gets more technical here but everything still blends into one huge groove!

“Fucked, Suffocated and Mutilated” starts off with a short sample of a woman who is probably being fucked, suffocated and then mutilated.  Then this song goes a few different places, all places we’ve been before but are happy to revisit one last time.  The bass is again really awesome throughout this closing track.  Especially when it has it’s jazzy solo right before our epic outro, where the vocalist pretty much goes crazy.  Everything fades out enough for us to hear more mutilation and moaning in displeasure.  Then I moan in pleasure at this demo and patiently await a full length release, out later this year on Ghastly Music.

CREATED FROM PIGS MUTILATION

INTROMANIA

PURCHASE

Pathology- Awaken To The Suffering - 2011 Victory Records

Considering the constant evolving state of electronics and what some would call increasing success of modern day audio engineering, it has become rare to hear bands come out with raw, unique sounding records that are packed with feeling and the flaws are audible and appreciated.  It is far more common to have a band go into a studio and have the engineer clean everything up and make them sound like the perfect musicians they are not.  Here, however, Pathology manage to get a clean, crisp sound while still having their passion and talent shine through.  The best of both worlds?  Maybe.

The first track on this album, "Dissected by Righteousness" wastes no time at all.  It immediately goes right into a very groovy, brutal, blasting riff.  Next we are lead to the first of this album’s brutally catchy slams in which we find proof of Jonathan Huber’s super-human, or super-something, guttural abilities.  Don’t worry, don’t rewind, these are showcased throughout Awaken To The Suffering’s entirety.
A creative but repetitive riff with a harmonic struck over and over again seems to go on forever and then stop briefly and return.  Then my favorite part of this song, a super awesome and surprising melodic riff is repeated, creating an amazingly haunting atmosphere, ending just in time for a perfectly placed and beautifully played guitar solo.

Now, if you are following along with the correct album and song, the last twenty seconds of this song, you know, the part right after you thought it was ending, will blow your mind, and crush your skull.  All while perfectly wrapping things up.



"Ingestion of Creation" plays back and forth with brutal ‘marching’ riffs.  Reminds me a lot of Visceral Disgorge.  Hopefully though it will remind the Slam/Brutal Death community that it is possible, and very rewarding, to insert insanely creative guitar parts to this genre.   Very refreshing.
At about one minute in, the reality of intense and fun songwriting is slammed back into the listener.  Everything about this is made much more disgusting and fun by the vocals.

"Hostility Towards Conformity" starts with more of what I am really loving about this record, huge, melodic riffs that create so much atmosphere and feeling.  Only a few key notes are changed to switch this up to something that sounds so different but really is not before it all returns to that main atmospheric riff that this track is built around.  Time signatures are played with and all instruments are very nicely balanced and blended together.  This is also one of the few instances in life that a fade out seems fitting.
"Media Consumption" is a short straightforward track where the drums keeps things pounding forward and the vocals get creative and crazy.   Then we have guitar solo number two which is, yet again, great.  Following that is this "breakdown" that has everyone up in arms.  It is really not that hard to enjoy, and if you are one of many people saying how much it sucks, I bet you are bobbing your head to it at the same time.  Loosen up and enjoy yourself.
"Society’s Desolation" starts with precise hammer-on pull-off guitar work and a stop and go pounding feel that begs to be resolved.  I wouldn’t really say that it ever is resolved, it just flows so nicely into the next blasting sections that you forget about it.  Due to the truly amazing song writing though, it will be back.

Obie Flett graces this track with his literally monster-sounding gutturals and it is nice that you can actually tell when it is him.  The most impressive part though, vocally, is Huber’s incredible lung capacity displayed at the end of this track.
Following a short, simple instrumental track is “A Perverse Existence” which has my favorite intro thus far.   Fast, blasting buildup with Dave Astor once again showing his creative excellence on the drums.  More time changes will have your head spinning before a slower slam ended by Huber’s reoccurring mid-range “bla”, which I absolutely love.  There is also a really cool sliding riff to end this track.

"Humanity’s Cesspool" Will force you to bob your head along with its chuggy, groovy parts.   Some far-in-the-distance yells are heard and this track starts having a weird, dark, almost black metal feel.   It’s awesome.  Another guitar solo and we are off and running with more melodic, full of emotion riffing, only to end with slammier versions of the same riffs.  This track does an awesome job of repeating all the right things in all the right ways.
"Festering in Filth" starts very fast and does not slow down until A.J. Magana says so.  Possibly my favorite part of this album starts at 1:15 and changes the whole mood of the track.
Then a solo that makes you feel like you are riding a horse brings in “Opposing Globalization”.  This intro seems very out of place until, of course, it’s return at the end of the song.

Pathology rerecorded the song “Emesis”, previously on their 2009 album “Age of Onset”.  This is proof that this band makes great songwriting sound easy.  Amazing, flowing transitions from every instrument.

"Awaken To The Suffering" ends beautifully with"Revocation of Earth", a soft, pretty display of Kevin Schwartz’s guitar mastery.  As if the solos were not enough.  Kevin Schwartz and Tim Tiszczenko both do an amazing job on this whole album.  Oscar Ramirez also puts out his share of brutal riffs and Dave Astor is his usual amazing self.  Jonathan Huber has impressive range, several different vocal styles and can hold a note/gurgle/burp longer than most.

SUPPORT

Gencuy Brutal Art Interview

Gencuy Brutal Art creates art for brutal death metal and black metal bands and does a very good job at it.  He operates out of Indonesia, a place with a constantly expanding and somewhat controversial brutal death metal scene.  I was happy to find out that there is also an incredibly supportive community for this kind of art in Indonesia.

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Cerebral Reviewment-  Hello and thank you for answering some questions! Could you let everyone know a little about yourself and how long you have been drawing?

Gencuy-  Hello, Gencuy is my nickname, not my real name. I am 21 years old now and living in Bandung, a city in Indonesia, I make the design work for the underground community. Mainly death metal bands and also black metal bands all over the world. I’ve been drawing since childhood. I learned to draw on my own and I never followed a special way or went to art school.




CR-  How long have you been into brutal art? What got you started?

G-  I started BrutalArt a few years ago, around 2007. So to say I have 5 years working on BrutalArt. I really like extreme music, especially DEATHMETAL and BLACKMETAL, but I am not proficient in music. So I wanted to do something, so I can get involved in this music community. BrutalArt makes me a part of the community and music that I love.




CR-  In your opinion, can brutal art ever take things too far by being too gross or obscene?

G-  What I’m expressing in BrutalArt is something unusual for the artist. The other side of life… murder, prostitution, death, deception, and other things that people think should not be talked about. Such things are discussed in the songs of Black Metal Death metal. I also always have a theme I wish to convey in my brutal art.




CR-  I always love when you post pictures of your sketches before they are finished. Can you describe your process a little bit from start to finish? How long do you usually take on a project?

G-  The process I go through to make BrutalArt is; begin by thinking of a theme that will be created, then create a sketch on paper using a pencil, and then proceed to use the inking pen, and after finishing with the image on paper, I input the image into the computer using a scanner, to subsequently be edited and the last process is in the Photoshop program. Time it takes to make a work can be varied according to mood, but I always try to be professional, doing a work within 1 week. If I’m not busy it could be faster, and may take longer if I am busy.








CR-  Do most bands tell you exactly what they want or do they give you a lot of freedom to draw what you want?

G-  Clients and bands are free to give the concept of what they want. I’ll try to make a work like what they want. I usually ask for tracks and lyrics of their songs, it really helps me to understand the character of the band who I am working with.




CR-  What or who are some of your biggest influences?

G-  The Death metal community, and love of music is the most influential for me. Surely the people who always support me and love brutal art!

CR-  Being from Indonesia, you probably do not have a lack of bands wanting to work with you. What is the art scene like there? Is there a lot of other brutal art? What is mainstream art like there?

G-  Yes there is a wonderful art community in my city of Bandung. Its name is Illuminator. There are many talented artists, each with a different style, and I know them. You need to know there is a shortage in my country people and bands who understand the artwork. They can not appreciate a work, and there is still a lot of piracy with the artwork here.



The Illuminator is an underground community that organizes events and exhibitions for artists.




CR-  Who are your favorite artists?

G-  Some of my favorite artists are Mark Riddick, Mike Majewski, Daniel Corcuera, Matt daughter, Christophe Moyen, Bin Bautista, Jeff Zornow, Nat Jones and my friends Derby, Candra (monmonart). I really like the artwork in black and white style, and they do it very well. That’s the reason I idolize them.

CR-  Do you have a favorite piece you’ve done?

G-  I love all my works. But, I’ve made a work that I love very much, and I will not sell it … I gave it the title “GOD BETRAYER”


CR-  Anything thing else you’d like to say to fans or aspiring artists?

G-  Do something that you like, because that would be something you are proud of yourself for doing.

Keep it Brutal \ m /

CR-  Thanks a lot!

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GENCUY BRUTALART

Potential clients contact gencuybrutal@yahoo.com

Visceral - Macabra Realidad De Caos Y Letargo - 2010 Charred Remains Records

Visceral are an amazing three piece churning out brutal death metal in Chile.  Charred Remains Records, out of Chile, has been putting out a lot of really good brutal death and grind for a while now.  I have not heard any of Visceral’s material before “Macabra Realidad De Caos Y Letargo”.  

This is a very solid album, and I listened to it before I knew this was a three piece.  Wow, it’s refreshing to hear a great guitarist be a great vocalist also.  His vocals are all over the place, in a great way.  They mix in well with the different aspects of this record.  There are very technical parts, very slow slams, and everything in between.   The drummer is nuts too!   At times the drums almost have a slower, jazzy feel that I love.   They have a tone that reminds me of Cephalotripsy's drums.  

With only three guys here, there is an amazing amount of interesting things going on all at once.  Not to worry, they can all be picked out and easily enjoyed.  The whole album has a raw, unpolished feel; something that more american brutal death metal bands should realize and utilize.

The fast moving riffs go along with the drums perfectly, and the bassist is right under everything, steadily filling out the sound with a precise attention to detail.

This is a great record and a great band!

SUPPORT THEM!

CHARRED REMAINS RECORDS

Discreate - Contingent Development of Inanimate Modifications - 2011 Demo - Viceral Vomit Records

This demo is a very strong one from another Filipino group, Discreate.  Let's dive right in.

“Thought Form Perverted” starts by blasting your face off and then Michael Carlos (guitar) and Em Larzano (drums) spend the rest of the song proving they can write creatively and have played together for a while.  At first I didn’t think I would like this track.  It seemed so far from what I was expecting.  Experimental.  I actually like this a lot!   The guitar tone is raw, nothing is over produced, and this track serves as a nice foreshadowing promise to great songwriting.   I can’t wait to see how the vocalist will fit in with this band but I am pleased to hear an entire instrumental track.

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EDIT: I wrote the above portion of this review before receiving the actual demo, on which ‘Thought Form Perverted’ had been re-named ‘Thoughtforms’ and did in fact contain vocals.  It is also a live version on the demo.   If I had never listened to the first, instrumental version, I probably wouldn’t like this song at all.   I am glad I did though because now I know that once this track is actually tracked and rerecorded, or possibly recorded live better, it will be great.  I think that Miko did a great job with the vocals on the demo track, I only wish everything could be heard and parts determined.   All that being said, it is still better than most demo tracks from bands trying to be technical on their first demo.

“Multiple Stabwounds” has good vocals and drumming over strange guitar riffs.   I am loving the creative flow between all three instruments here.   Yes, the guttural voice is an instrument; one that is not very often utilized to it’s fullest potential.   Miko Pareja, however, sounds well on his way.   For a 3 piece and no bass, this sounds huge!   The guitar solo is literally all over the place on this track but always starts and ends in a good spot.   Guitar and drums move together and are very tight. There is a main ‘chorus’ riff that is returned to a few times and it kind of holds everything else together.   All three members prove in this single song that they are all very talented at what they do.   If I were going to be picky, which I have to be, I would say that this song needed more structure.   It does, however, contain the kind of songwriting you would expect on a bands first demo.  I really hope that Discreate stays a three piece.   They are managing to get a unique sound and their songwriting is already quite creative and distinct.   If anything, they overdid some things here.   The solos on "Multiple Stabwounds" got to be a little much and at certain points throughout the demo things just felt a little rushed.  Their riffs are weird and creative enough to stand alone without too many technical fills.



"The Pleasure of Eternal Killing" starts with a sort of bouncy, simple riff that made me smile.  Awesome drums here as well.  Then I was thrown right into a hectic spiral full of quick riffs and deep gutturals steadily marching forth until the song slows down to an almost totally unstructured break (in a good way) and then builds back up again.  I am having some trouble describing this sound.  There are a lot of interesting/awesome tones and sounds coming from these three dudes, so buy this demo and listen closely!

Very happy to read this quote from the band: "we are amateur musicians with complicated passion for continuous learning”

Discreate pushes the boundaries of brutal death metal and obviously plan on continuing to do just that. I am very excited for more from this band!

Discreate is currently working on a full-length debut for 2013.

VICERAL VOMIT RECORDS

Digging Your Tomb - Demo(lition) - 2011 Demo

This Spanish three peice manages to get an impressivly diverse array of sounds into these four songs, one of which being an ‘outro’ with a spanish speaking man saying something over a slow hip hop beat. Incredibly unfitting, unless you enjoy it, then I guess it would fit in with your enjoyment of the three tracks before it.

Super groovy, super heavy, overall fuzzy production but blends together nicely. Creative drum programming makes for a fun, constantly changing tempo complimented by gutturals and squeals and some other weird but awesome vocals.  This is angry, aggressive, out of the ordinary, non stop slam.

Disastrous - Severe Suffering - 2012 Brute! Productions

This Filipino band had a lot to live up to since there last release “Slavery of Disgusting Torture”. They fell short of doing so, but I think it is still worth checking out.
The recording on this album sounds sonically better and the vocals are mixed in nicely, but there is still a lack of range and dynamic.  The first track, “Kingdom of The Lifeless” is a little disorienting upon first listen.  It takes some effort to make sense of; everything feels like it has been hacked up and poorly put back together.  This song serves as a weak start to an album I was very, very excited to hear.  “It’s Your Turn To Kill” said one song to the next.  It does kill, in a few ways.  The drumming is consistent and the guitar is relentlessly, verging on messily, flying all over.  The bass guitar starts to shine through here also, but not anywhere near enough.  At 2:10 things change ever so slightly to an awesome pounding section that does not overstay it’s welcome, leading us into an abrupt ending.

"Liquid Flesh Splattered" opens with a generic sample of a screaming woman and wet noises, one could assume liquid flesh.  Luckily I have surprisingly not grown tired of these stupid samples unless of course they go on for to long.  The melodic riffs of the guitar are all over the place and chaotic. I think this record could use different recording/micing techniques to get cleaner sounds and better fitting tones.
 At around 1:35 the creativity that is Disastrous returns.  Simple yet effective brutality.  Drums do weird super splashing things and is a little distracting.
 "Removal of Spinal Cord" is a pretty boring song in context with the rest.  This is definitely one of those albums that should only be listened to as a whole, and it takes some warming up to.  The title track packs a refreshing punch that will wake you up.  Starting with the funky bass fill that might even make you dance a little bit.  This is my favorite track so far because I can hear the bass, and it’s groovy. It also has bits and pieces of weirdness that only Disastrous can put in a song and call it Brutal Death. Songs like this are why I fell in love with this band in the first place.
"Death Dimension" begins with a legitimately frightening sample and then proceeds to bash your skull in with what is apparently a kick ass second half of this album.  "Skull Fucking Pulverized" stays creative and catchy.  This band is good at stringing together parts and riffs and making them seem like they fit.  The last song is called "9.9" and it is almost that long.  I expected a six minute sample or something but luckily it starts off with some pretty interesting stuff and kind of reminds me of Disgorge.  Then, after some silence, our friend "Freddie The Blamer" shows up with some classical guitar skills.  This serves as a rather nice ending to a rather OK album.

My biggest complaint has to be the drums.  They always feel rushed or off in some way and come off bland and annoying.  While Severe Suffering has some gems, as a whole it just does not flow.

Still, Disastrous prove they are back at it and they are not fucking around.

The band has since signed to Sevared Records and are finishing work on their next album.

SUPPORT THEM