Album Reviews
Defaced & Split
‘Defaced & Split’ is a four-way split CD featuring death metal bands Exhumation, Narsil, Warface and Reptilian Death, in addition to two bonus tracks by Infinite Hate Project.
For Personal Consumption Only [Exhumation] According to the Exhumation blog, featured in the Resurrection VI ‘zine, ‘For Personal Consumption Only’ is “the story of a vegetarian cannibal, an animal lover who craves the flesh of beautiful young women that are charmed by his ways, only to end up on skewers as human sizzlers”. As you would expect, the guitars cut like a saw-blade and the vocalist mouths his cannibalistic tendencies with venom, and I’m sure the lyrics would no doubt make for hilarious reading. The songwriting at times is a bit cluttered, and the instrumental “Bloodletting” could perhaps have been explored in song form. But, when they do get it right like with “On the Platter” and “The House I Built”, it’s — to quote the band itself — “100% Gujarati Brutal Death Metal”.
Carcinogenic [Narsil] The band won me over at Resurrection VI with a strong performance, a relentless assault of death metal and grind. And they are just as brutal on record, blending seamlessly over five songs that sucker punch you in the gut and leave you gasping for breath. It doesn’t matter what the shrapnel vocalist Shashwat is growling, his incredulous screaming sounds almost melodic compared to the pristine violence of the guitars and drums that rattle on record, and you would be hard pressed to find a single wrong step. Here is a band that is breaking new ground in the Indian metal scene.
Warface Demo [Warface] The first international band to release in India on Demonstealer Records, the songs featured here are from Warface’s self-titled EP. Unfortunately, that’s the only noticeable fact about them, as they are the weakest band on record. Nothing sticks out about this band, the sound is of demo quality and the song-writing is just your run-of-the-mill death metal. Bleh.
Intestinal Feast [Reptilian Death] Blowing hot and cold, Reptilian Death has all the ingredients that make a killer death metal band — frantic riffs, guttural vocals and calculated battering of the skins. However, they seem to be unsure of their sound, offsetting accessible riffs like on “Grasp of the Anaconda” with doses of evil on “A Cranial Funeral”, “Ghouls of War” and “Bathed in Blood” with their undying metal biffs and blast beats that aren’t very different from one to the other.
Bonus Tracks [Infinite Hate Project] ‘Defaced & Split’ caps off with two bonus tracks by ‘anonymous’ death metal band Infinite Hate Project that rant and rage with grinding force. “Blast of Hatred” and “Fuck the Sena Master” is basically an extension of Reptilian Death in terms of sound, with a hint of grindcore influence running through. Surely, this is a band to watch out for in the future.
['Defaced & Split' contains 21 songs in all. To order a copy, please contact Demonstealer Records at +91 98206 43313]
Narsil!
awesome is just the fuckin word for this mind blowing compilation………….\m/
did the Demonstealer ghost -write this ? :(
^^^^ er no!! Why would I?
@the demonstealer..your street team members suck man…i asked sushmit 4 dis nd fine-tuned disasters..its been a month..he dint turn up…nd now im in uae..fuck fuck fuck.
^^^ shit sorry!!