“Final State of Existence” is a new split
courtesy of Unspeakable Axe Records that brings together two crushing death
metal bands: Putrisect and Scorched. Normally I’d break out a split review by
band, but in all honesty, most of the general comments about one band’s music
can be applied to the other. Both Putrisect and Scorched play fairly typical
old-school death metal: lots of tremolo picking, standard growled vocals, production
that isn’t great but is still clear enough (with Scorched’s production gaining
the edge), and the occasional blast beat (though Putrisect’s “Blasphemous
Ritual” is filled with them). Scorched is a bit thrashier with their riffing,
but most of the riffs on this album fall squarely in the death metal category.
One thing both bands do exceptionally well
is make use of pinch harmonics. They don’t dominate the music, but they show up
frequently enough to cause some serious mayhem. This is most evident on
Scorched’s “Visceral Ascension”, which has the single greatest riff on the
split. It causes some serious carnage, thanks in large part due to its subtle pinch
harmonic usage (i.e. not Zakk Wylde level pinch harmonics). Another song deserving of special mention is Putrisect’s “Astral
Martyrdom”. This one opens with a riff that would not be out of place on a
mid-era Death record, and the riff is actually used quite a bit for the first
minute of the song, but is played in different ways to keep things fresh.
Putrisect and Scorched both do a good job
of mixing up tempos, but they never push the boundaries of either side
(thankfully in the case of slow moments, and unfortunately in the case of
faster ones). In fact, this would be a good summary of the split as a whole:
band bands are incredibly competent and play relatively safe death metal. As
much as I hate to admit it, this split took a while to get a handle on. I can’t
help but feel that it would leave a more positive impact if one of the bands
pushed the boundaries of death metal a bit further, but regardless, there isn’t
a single weak moment on this release. If you’re a death metal fan, you’re going
to be happy with the final product, particularly as old-school styled splits become less common
in the metal world.
Highlights
"Astral Martyrdom"
"Visceral Ascension"
Final Rating
3.9/5 or 78%.
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