PSYCHIATRIC REGURGITATION are an unsigned band from Dallas, Texas, who sent me the songs from their new debut album not long ago, describing the music as sort of like a cross between Death/Decrepit Birth and Exhumed/Carcass/Impaled.

The music happened to arrive in one of those rare moments when I wasn’t right in the middle of something else, and the description sounded like my kinda thing. So, I listened to a few tracks and got a big smile from what I heard — and not just from the sample that starts off the opening title track, “Stabbed In the Eyes With A Crack Pipe”.

Despite the humorous samples and song titles — including the unforgettable “Smoke Crack, Worship Satan, Kill People” — the music is seriously good death metal. It’s a rapid-fire blast of skull-hammering brutality delivered with blazing technicality, but it also includes catchy melodic riffing, head-spinning solos and progressive instrumental breaks that may take you by surprise, and even a few clobbering slam breakdowns. The barking-dog vocals are cool, too (big, rabid dogs, to be clear).

When you see names like Death, Decrepit Birth, and Exhumed tossed around in an e-mail out of the blue, you tend to take it with a grain of salt. But Psychiatric Regurgitation have the songwriting and performance chops to back it up.  Continue reading »