DOOMED FROM DAY ONE: ‘The Wasted World.’
Jeez! This is brutal! In a good sort of way … I think!
‘Death Metal’ is not really area of music that I am particularly qualified to comment upon. I’m well up for it in smallish doses, like maybe back in the day when John Peel would play a track sandwiched in between the comedic indie tones of Half Man Half Biscuit, and the latest dub version of some politically motivated Burning Spear track.
And so it came as no surprise that I really did enjoy the first track proper on this six song EP. ‘Pretending’ is full of machine-gun staccato riffs and searing guitar solos with a growled and grunted vocal delivery over the top of some completely insane and manic drumming! It’s all served up at about one hundred miles an hour and barely pauses to draw breath. Loud, brash and aggressive, it seems to encapsulate all that’s good in metal and hardcore, with the heat generated from the friction of the two genres rubbing against each other melding them as one.
However, after the four minutes of ‘Pretending’ I find my aural senses bludgeoned into a submission and without a buffer between the subsequent tracks, I have to say that much of what follows really does test my staying power.
There are little weird interludes however. Like mid-track ‘Depths Of Imagination’ there is a really chilled sounding little jazzy spell, before the brutality returns. Similarly, ‘From Here On Out’ has a little quiet moment and ….. well, that’s about it I guess.
Look – I couldn’t honestly say how this EP stacks up within its peer group. But I do know that some of the heavy-hitting magazines like Terroriser and Metal Hammer have been generous in their praise. That is probably recommendation enough.
(Released through Noise Control Records on 14th November 2011)
(7/10)
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