(Andy Synn recommends three short-but-sweet releases from the UK Metal underground)
Let me start off today with a little announcement of my own… sadly, for reasons beyond our control the third and final part of the Beyond Grace EP trilogy (which will also, Voltron-style, form our third album when all connected together) won’t be out this year.
I know, I know… I’m as disappointed as you are… but having lost most of September due to two different weddings (including my own) and their accompanying stag-dos/bachelor parties, and then struggling to book studio time for the drums, it really couldn’t be helped.
We’ll still be releasing another cover track, most likely at the start of January (and quite possibly as part of an awesome charity compilation), and then following that with another video prior to the EP/album release (where you’ll be able to get the digital version of the new EP and the collected CD/LP version, at the same time) but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait a little longer for your next fix.
But don’t worry, because today I’m bringing you three other short-form releases from three other killer British bands – including one we’ve toured with before, plus another that we’re hoping to tour with next year – that I’m hoping will help ease your obvious disappointment!
DE PROFUNDIS – THE GOSPEL OF ROT
Despite being a veritable institution in the UK underground it’s always felt, to me anyway, that De Profundis have never really received the attention or acclaim that they’ve been due.
And it’s not like we haven’t tried to help raise their profile too (as you can see here) so if you’re not familiar with their technically proggy Death Metal prowess yet, well… you just haven’t been paying attention.
Thankfully the release of The Gospel of Rot serves as a perfect jumping-on-point and an excellent primer for the next era of the band, beginning with the razor-sharp riffage of “I: Corruption”, which showcases a more intense, almost thrashier, focus on the more aggressive – and less progressive – side of the group’s sound.
That’s not to say they’ve made a major shift in style – the fleet-fingered bass-work of Simon McAuliffe (making his recorded debut with the band) demonstrates that he’s more than capable of living up to his predecessor’s incredibly high technical standard, while the various solos threaded throughout the track ensure that you’re never far from a dark, moody melody or spiralling lead-guitar lick – but, on the evidence presented here, they’ve certainly continued their evolution into a more vicious and visceral form.
Doubling down on this, just in case you thought the opener was some sort of fluke, the shorter, sharper strains of “II: Deception” switch out the Death influences from their previous work(s) for a meatier and more modernised Morbid Angel inspired approach, which “III: Indoctrination” then picks up and runs with at an even faster and more furious pace.
Concluding with a suitably spiky cover of Sepultura‘s “Subtraction”, hopefully The Gospel of Rotwill garner the band a bunch of new converts to their cause… because it’s about damn time!
PLAGUE PIT – A WHISPERED CURSE
Steeped in darkness and spewing vitriol, the debut EP from Bristol-based necromongers Plague Pit marries crusty, crushing Death Metal and ugly, unrelenting Hardcore influences – shot through with poisonous veins of doom and gloom – resulting in four (un)pleasantly nasty and gnarly tracks that firmly lay the groundwork for the band’s all killer, no killer, no frills future.
That’s not to say there aren’t some surprising moments of nuance here and there – the gruesome, ground ‘n’ pound, Death Metal-meets-Hardcore stomp of “Womb of Orchids” concludes with an eerily effective outro of smoody, ambient synths, while the stripped down chug and churn of “The Weeping God” suddenly unveils an unexpetedly epic melodic lead hook during its second half – but the focus is most definitely on inflicting maximum damageand brutalising the listener as efficiently and unforgivingly as possible.
Opener “The Seventh Bell”, for example, soon transitions from its sinister, slow-burn intro into a tightly-coiled torrent of stangling tremolo guitars and booming, down-tuned chuggery that will likely appeal just as much to fans of Black Breath as it does fans of Terminal Nation, while the the grim, grinding grooves of the aforementioned “Womb of Orchids” clearly and unashamedly worship at the altar of Obituary (and do so with impressive dedication).
And then there’s the EP’s climactic title-track, which is perhaps the most promising piece on the entire release, combining the group’s more brutish and blackened impulses with some subtle shades of more ominous and atmospheric ambitions which, one can hope, may grow into something bigger and bolder… only time will tell!
SOULFRACTURE – THE LEADER OF THE EXPLOITED
Sixteen years… that’s how long it’s been since the name Soulfracture was uttered in the grand halls of Metaldom, because that’s how long it’s been since the group officially dissolved way back in 2009, leaving behind only a single album, 2007’s Ashes of Existence, to remember them by.
But, out of nowhere, the band have reformed and reunited with their full original line-up and are set to release a brand new EP of thrashy Melodic Death Metal – think The Absence, Arsis, and early Arch Enemy – that deliver four tracks of fire-breathing riffage and venom-spitting vocals in just over fifteen furious minutes.
Now, to be clear about something, I’m not going to say anyything as cliché as “The Leader of the Exploited picks up right where the band left off”… because, the truth is, it doesn’t.
That’s not a bad thing though, because as much as I loved Ashes of Existence at the time – I still have the cd, in fact – these four new tracks showcase a darker, heavier, and more mature sound from the quintet, beginning with the surging and blasting, stomping and shredding, title track (which immediately showcases both the group’s harder edge this time around and their more subtly proggy proclivities as well) and ending with the unashamedly hooky (and subtly technical) assault of “Genocide of Man”.
In between these two unashamedly infectious Death Metal anthems you’re also gifted the twisted tremolo and hammering rhythmic hooks of “My Immolation” (wherein those Arsis comparisons really bloom) and the moodier and more melodic strains of “Call from the Void”, both of which demonstrate that the band – all of whom are on top form here, make no mistake about that – have clearly spent a great deal of time studying the works of the masters… and then, as you’re soon to hear for yourselves, applying these lessons with merciless precision!