Filial Cannibalism - Guttural Congregation

Self Released 2011

1.A Psychpath's Descent 2.Porcine 3.Smashed Up Kids

4.Necrocannibalistic Artery Consumption 5.Kitchen Slut Dismantlement

6.Wake Up Missing 7.Writhing In Carnivorous Larva 8.Regurgitation Of The Stillborn

9.Vicious Excrement 10.Severed Intestines 11.Guttural Congregation

With an intro sounding like it's taken from an epic film score you’d generally be expecting something alot different than morbid, old school and nasty sounding death metal. ‘Porcine’ really does sound like your worst nightmares, disgustingly simple, buzz heavy guitar lines crawl along morbidly with unintelligible and ultra-guttural vocals spewing nastiness at every opportunity. ‘Smashed Up Kids’ follows a similar formula, the slow crawling riffs dragging each song into a cesspool of horror. Structures and riffing remain very simple, the morbid old school production suiting the simplicity perfectly (no high budget ‘shiny’ production here!). The song ends with a spoken passage, the deranged ramblings of a murderous cannibal admitting his crimes against the girl that he ate. Grim stuff indeed! ‘Necrocannibalistic Artery Consumption’ sees a slight variation, the pace being upped slightly with  more melodic and accessible guitar riffs introduced which does inject some distinct variety. However, this doesn’t last long, the familiar gore soaked crawling pace returns. The mix of the ultra-slow with the faster, blasting passages isn’t anything new, but works well because of the morbid old school production. When FC slow things down bands such as Rottrevore, Embalmer and Mortician spring to mind in the sense that the production is raw and nasty, the vocals as mentioned, are ultra-guttural and it all reeks of old school Death Metal.

Very surprised by ‘Wake Up Missing’ which is an extremely melodic guitar interlude with spoken death metal vocals over the top. A bit different yes, but adding nothing as FC are at their best when it’s ugly, nasty and stinking. And at over 3 minutes long, it’s very easy to hit the fast forward button, the track doesn’t lead anywhere; it just exists as something very different to the rest of the cd. Sticking to the formula already used in the opening tracks, the remainder of the cd offers us nothing more surprising, but that shouldn’t be taken as a negative. It’s all great stuff with the air of horror retained throughout, mainly due to the reverb heavy vocals which sound disturbingly monstrous and suit the music perfectly. Pig squeals and gargles also introduced which only add to the overall horror. Having praised the old school ethic to this release, one minor point is the drum production. For all of the cd’s nasty old school influence, the drum sound is awful. Not sure if a drum machine was used, certainly sounds like it. Especially bad when the pace is increased where rolls and fills are introduced. Sounds too clinical and precise which is a shame as it detracts from the atmosphere being created by the guitars and vocals. That aside ‘Severed Intestines’ is a monstrous track, crawling along at an extremely slow pace, the vocals really impacting here, giving the whole song a feeling of utter terror. ‘Guttural Congregation’ is a 9 minute outro of samples, way too long and uninteresting – maybe fitting 2 or 3 more tracks to the cd would have been a more appealing proposition. Disgustingly morbid with an amazingly disturbing production, it’s a gore fans wet dream and is recommended. This is how death metal should sound!!

7 out of 10