Anopsys Records / Inherited Suffering Records 2012
1.Contaminated 2.Bad Aids 3.Wretched Cum Slut 4.Ordained Abstained
5.Inside The Crematory 6.Bound And Gutted 7.Born Into Pain
8.Blasphetus 9.Rectal Prolapse 10.Skewered11.Pear Of Anguish
12.Razor Speculum 13.Others May Die
Debut album from Irelands Skewered blastsopen unmercifully
with some great old school inspired death metal, dripping and oozing putridity
from every gore-soaked note. Especially prevalent is a ‘Swedish death metal’ sound
and opener ‘Contaminated’ shows off this style from start to end. It’s a
mid-paced opener that does inject some blast beat laden brutality sporadically
and is certainly a good introduction to the band. What is also quite pleasing
to listen to is the vocal delivery, death metal yes, but not cookie monster
ultra-guttural, it is possible to make out what Mark is bellowing out,
especially on the chorus sections. ‘Bad Aids’ see’s the band up the pace
dramatically in places before falling back into the more old school, mid paced
sections. Again, there’s a very heavy Swedish Death Metal influence on display
which suits the more mid-paced sections well. The band does switch well from
the faster passages into the slower sections, the transition seeming
effortless. ‘Wretched Cum Slut’ is full on death metal at its dirtiest and
whilst remaining old school influenced there is a great sense of urgency to the
track and being the shortest track on the entire album (1:58) it is delivered
with utter ferocity. ’Ordained Abstained’ drops well back pace wise as it begins at a gnarly crawl before slowly beginning to speed up and sounding
slightly more technical that anything heard so far and with the addition of
some (almost gore-grind) backing vocals makes for a real slab of brutality and
adds a new dimension to the band’s sound. ‘Inside The Crematory’ begins in similar
fashion to the previous track being of the slower and heavier style. It’s not
long however before the furious blast beats are introduced with these faster
sections sounding extremely catchy and precise. ‘Bound And Gutted’ see’s the
band returning to the more familiar Swedish inspired sound, paces once again
varied well and again another relatively short track that clocks in at the two
minute mark.
‘Born Into Pain’ is an absolute belter of a song and for a death
metal song is very catchy. It’s simple, straight to the point and certainly doesn’t
hold back musically. As with the majority of the guitar riffing, and mentioned a
lot so far, it’s the melodic tinged Swedish inspired riffing which really makes
the songs, very catchy! ‘Blasphetus’ is a crushing affair, heavy punishing
guitars crawl at minimum pace, with an almost ‘slam element’ to them. The
technicality heard previously is re-introduced and isn’t too over the top, just
enough to make the song a bit different and ultimately more interesting. Next
up is ‘Rectal Prolapse’ and the heaviness to the opening guitar riffs is
probably enough to induce one. It’s another
really straight to the point death metal barrage which sounds very similar in places
(as has much of the album) to Germanys Fleshcrawl. Named after the band
obviously and next song up is ‘Skewered’ and once again its more ferocious
death metal that is sounding especially potent, particularly when the faster
sections are introduced and the dual vocals (growled and screamed) and layered
over the top. ‘Pear Of Anguish’ follows on brilliantly, another short, sharp
lesson in ‘for the throat’ old school death metal. It’s not pretty and that’s the
whole point. Its putrid, it’s horrible and nasty but extremely well played. As
with many of the tracks on offer, it’s around the two minute mark, which for
some might not seem long enough and the songs do seem to pass extremely quickly
but again, that’s the point – get in, do the business, then fuck off out
leaving you feeling utterly battered. ‘Razor Speculum’ sees a slightly different influence
on display, the pinch harmonics used let lose a U.S death metal sound which
works well in amongst the bands now trademark sound of old school Swedish influenced
death metal. Finishing off is ‘Others May Die’ which is another monster and a
great song to end things on, blast beats ravaging the speakers with paces
diving from the sludge laden crawls, through to the mid-paced sections before
the blast beats let lose once more. It sounds deadly and more brutal than the
band have sounded on any of the previous tracks. The band does right by ending
on a high. For a debut album this is a very worthy effort and is a solid slab
of putrid and brutal death metal that never lets up. Each and every song
smashes along brilliantly and although the majority of the songs aren’t very
long, there is definitely a lot on offer. Skewered might not be wholly original
(but there again who is?), or the fastest, or the most technical, but what they
do offer is an extremely well played death metal album that reeks of nastiness,
morbidity and is an aural horror show that has you reminiscing of death metal
how it used to be played and which definitely deserves your attention and comes
well recommended.
8 out of 10
Band Page: Here
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