Gutslit – Skewered In The Sewer

From the surprisingly metal-abundant country of India comes Gutslit and their hilariously titled debut album, “Skewered In The Sewer”. As you may have guessed from the album cover and band name, these guys join the legions of bands playing the most brutal death metal around. It’s no secret that this is a tough genre to play; most bands sound exactly the same and have no variation, but luckily, Gutslit do everything right to make “Skewered In The Sewer” an enjoyable release. In general, the formula for making great brutal death metal is diversity and pacing. At 26 minutes, this release has the latter down, but it also has plenty of variation. Songs can go from insanely technical tapping leads into huge slams, into blast-beat-laden moments that are followed by crazy pinch harmonics. The tempos vary considerably to accommodate the different feel of each section, but overall, this is definitely a fast release.

The vocalist of this release is on the more impressive side of this subgenre. There are no obvious gurgles that I picked out, and the style of gutturals as a whole is pretty old-school (it would fit right in line with some of Chris Barnes’ early work). He also has the ability to hit higher notes when necessary, but generally sticks with his lower range. From a memorability standpoint, “Skewered In The Sewer” is right in line with other brutal death metal. There’s not a single riff that will really shock you because of either its uniqueness or its sheer awesomeness, but I’ve come to expect nothing more from the subgenre. In this regard, the variation definitely helps to deal with the monotony that usually occurs due to a lack of memorability. 

One aspect of this album that definitely helps it is the production, and, in particular, the drum sound. A lot of brutal death suffers from having a high, pingy snare drum, but the kit of the drummer of Gutslit has a much more organic sounding snare. It’s definitely pretty tight sounding, but it almost sounds like they didn’t do much production work at all and just rolled with the natural sound of the drum. Unfortunately, however, that’s pretty much the only drum you’ll hear during the majority of the fills. That is really the only major gripe I have with this album though. For a sound that is not among my favourites, Gutslit managed to deliver an impressive release that is enjoyable from start to finish. This album should be heard both by fans of brutal death metal and fans of other styles of metal looking to give this sound a shot.

Be sure to check out and like Gutslit on Facebook!

Highlights

All of it

Final Rating

4.0/5 or 80%. 

Written by Scott 

Maverick Hunter – Maverick Hunter

Self-billed as “cinematic metal with thrash and traditional elements”, Maverick Hunter is a group of four wickedly talented musicians from Tampa, Florida. While that initial description has truth to it, in reality, Maverick Hunter is a melodic death metal group that is willing to go far beyond the boundaries of the genre at times. Their self-titled debut album provides you with a little bit of everything over the course of 53 minutes, and is a bright spot for this style of metal.

After a short intro, the album begins with its strongest cut, “I, Of The Storm”. This track’s initial frantic gallop will have you headbanging instantly. A folky lead soon appears before leading into Jeff Pouring’s fantastic growls. Picking out a singular comparison is a difficult task, but fans of bands like Norther and Children of Bodom certainly won’t be disappointed with his harsh vocals. Later aided by gang vocals and the return of folk-induced melodies, “I, Of The Storm” manages to become even more intense as it goes on. The shredding on this track is more traditional than you would expect, as it isn’t classically influenced like so many of Maverick Hunter’s contemporaries are. In direct contrast to the first full song, the following track, “Out of Exile”, begins much slower and uses keyboards very effectively. It isn’t until the guitar solo that the track picks up the tempo. Though the melodeath songs certainly don’t sound identical, they are nothing out of the ordinary for the genre. Before getting on to what makes “Maverick Hunter” stand out, it’s worth talking about the production. Overall, the sound on this record is impressive. Every instrument (sans-bass) is audible and properly mixed, and the drums are well tuned (you won’t get any of that high or loud snare that dominates many metal albums). Although the production is relatively modern, it isn’t entirely perfect, and that human touch is likely to appeal to others.

Where this record deviates from others is in its excessive use of clean vocals. Though many melodic death metal bands have begun using clean vocals, “Maverick Hunter” shows a very clear transition in the way they are used. The opening few tracks have none of these types of vocals, but they are slowly worked in throughout the record, culminating in a cover of a song by The White Buffalo, where the band abandons metal almost entirely. The final two tracks, however, return to playing melodic death metal. Pouring’s clean vocal style is a baritone, not unlike Jari Mäenpää. He also proves that he can do some higher vocals, such as in the chorus of “Run With The Hunted”. Overall, however, his range is not exceptional, but it does compliment the growls well.

Maverick Hunter’s debut album is very impressive for many reasons. Beyond the high-quality songwriting, it’s simply a record with a lot of variation, and everything the band does differently works well (for the most part; I’m still not entirely sold on the cover song). Even when the band plays melodeath, they find ways to differentiate each track. While I’m certain fans of melodic death metal will love this record, I would recommend it to all metal fans because of the variety.

Be sure to check out and like Maverick Hunter on Facebook!

Highlights

"I, Of The Storm"

"Run With The Hunted"

"Death's Head (Fear)"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%. 

Written by Scott 

Split The Abyss - With Savage Intent

Split The Abyss is a 4-piece death metal band hailing from Ohio, and “With Savage Intent” marks an interesting, albeit flawed sophomore record. With 12-songs and an hour of material, there are certainly great moments to be had on this record, but it also displays some amateurish tendencies (whether or not that is a plus is in the eye of the beholder, but I’d argue it works against Split the Abyss). The opening track, “Metathronon”, for example, gets things off to a bit of a bad start. It begins with a heavy riff, but the guitar tones are so vastly different between the two rhythm guitars that it makes the guitars sound out of tune with each other. The opening riff in particular compounds this effect; however, once the band speeds up (and it isn’t long before that happens), this issue shouldn’t bother you anymore.

Where you will be immediately impressed is in the quality of the vocals delivered. They are relatively understandable for death metal, but still retain an abrasive aspect. In addition, there is some variation to the vocals, as they have the power needed to do lows and some higher moments (though a rough death/thrash style is certainly the most prominent sound). The riffs run the gamut of the death/thrash sound, but are at their best when they stick with tremolo picking. This is most evident on “Radical Schism”, which is one of the stronger tracks.

It’s pretty clear Split The Abyss has the potential to do great, but sometimes the flaws are just too obvious to ignore. The composition in the solos is pretty weak, as there is no recurring theme, general structure, or really anything that makes a lot of sense. I haven’t nit-picked every note, but it feels like not everything may be in time with the rest of the music. At the very least, the transitions in solo sections are awkward, but this is not something that is exclusive to the guitar solos. Often times the riffs have an equally strange transition. It isn’t that any of the riffs on these songs sound out of place, but rather that consecutively linked riffs have no flow together. When the band avoids this, they are at their best. “Hand of Mercy” is the best place to see this; the verse riff, although simplistic, displays a well-written riff, but the chorus riff is strange and doesn’t seem to work at all. 

Another area where I have to fault “With Savage Intent” is that its simply too long. Only a select number of bands can truly justify releasing an hour’s worth of material at a time. There is definitely enough quality material (both riffs and songs) on the album to create a chaotic, brutal 30-40 minute experience, but when things don’t gel perfectly, 60-minutes is a lot to digest. With all that said, I urge you not to look past this release. Split The Abyss has created plenty of moments to get your head banging, and there are quite a few tracks worth hearing.

Be sure to check out and like Split The Abyss on Facebook!

Highlights

"Radical Schism"

Final Rating

3.3/5 or 66%. 

Written by Scott 

Zealotry – The Charnel Expanse

On first sight of the album cover of “The Charnel Expanse”, it should become quite clear what Zealotry is all about. The twisted, psychotic looking creature immediately gives off vibes of dark, cavernous death metal. Not unlike Immolation and Incantation (who appear to be the primary influences), Zealotry also deliver crushing death metal characterized by strange riffs, unique usage of pinch harmonics, and massive drumming. There is a perpetual use of melody, but it is done in a way that enhances the brooding atmosphere, as it compliments heavier riffs underneath the leads. The guitar solos show homage to Immolation axe-shredder Bob Vigna, with their almost backwards approach to lead guitar.

Continuing along the Immolation path, vocalist R. Temin does an impressive job matching Ross Dolan’s unearthly guttural vocals. Beyond the Immolation worship, there are some surprises. “Avatars of Contempts” (a 3-part track) features a moment of clean guitars in the middle before it returns to sheer brutality.  Likewise, “Blighted” opens with some softer moments prior to excruciatingly heavy guitars come in. Additionally, the lyrical approach on the record tends to give “The Charnel Expanse” a different atmosphere from your typical death metal record. Combining these types of lyrics with a mostly slower approach creates a feeling of endless dread and hopelessness. Musically, this sound comes from the combination of at least a couple of layers of guitars, and Lille Gruber’s (Defeated Sanity) drumming. While he certainly knows his way around the kit, it is his drumming in the slower moments that makes this album so heavy. At times, he leaves huge spaces in the drumming to let the riffs breathe, while at others, he relentlessly unleashes double bass to make the rhythms more pounding. The mixing of the drums is perfect, as they’re a bit louder than normal, so the focus is on the rhythm side of the record, but they’re in no way distracting or annoying. 

Overall, “The Charnel Expanse” is an impressive offering of old-school sounding death metal. There is a wave of Incantation clone bands at the moment, but Zealotry is truly something above and beyond most of these bands. It takes a lot for me to get excited about a newer death metal band, and Zealotry have done a pretty impressive job of creating a unique sounding record that will leave you wanting more.

Be sure to check out and like Zealotry on Facebook!

Highlights

"Avatars of Contempt"

"Blighted"

"Decaying Echoes"

Final Rating

4.2/5 or 84%. 

Written by Scott 

Deicide Interview

After hearing the new album from death metal monstrosity Deicide, I had to go straight to the source on why this album is so awesome. Check out this interview with guitarist Kevin Quirion, and make sure you blast the album as you read it!

SFM: Hi Kevin! Let's start with your contributions to the album. You wrote a lot of music on the new record, despite it being your first time recording with Deicide. Did you find that Glen and Steve were pretty open to your suggestions even though they've written a lot on recent albums?  

Kevin Quirion (KQ): Yeah, they were both pretty receptive. I've put together a couple Order Of Ennead albums with Steve, so we had a routine for putting songs together - basically Jack and Glen were added to the mix making it Deicide. I know Steve was a little burnt out on doing it all himself, and Glen doesn't write too much of the music – though he did write a couple riffs on this one, his first since ‘Legion’ – so another writer was welcomed. Jack had a lot more material on this album as compared to the previous ones he appeared on, also.

SFM: The songs you wrote sound like classic Deicide. Was it easy to come up with very authentic sounding Deicide riffs?

KQ: I grew up on Deicide, so their influence was always there. I just come up with riffs and if it sounds like it could be a Deicide riff then I'll show it to them – If one of the guys doesn't like a riff then I'll use it for something else. I know early there was concern that anything I came up with would sound like Order Of Ennead, but if you put Glen's vocals on something, it sounds like Deicide to me. It was never a concern to me (laughing)...

SFM: I believe this is your third stint in Deicide. Can you speak a bit about how you joined the band again?

KQ: It's not really my third stint. I've been used for live shows whenever they weren't getting along with the other guitarist. I was just filling in here and there since maybe 2008 – they'd make up with him, I'd get a regular job, and then before the tour or shows I'd get a call to start going over the material. It was... “interesting” is a word. One set of shows, I only had a couple days to refresh the songs and it had been many months since playing them.

SFM: You've played in bands with Steve Asheim before, but this was the first recording experience with Deicide. What was it like working with these guys in the studio, and how does it differ from some other bands you have recorded with?

KQ: Recording was smooth. There was never a time that everyone was there at the same time, so that was different. I was there for all but about a day of tracking vocals because I just enjoy being in the studio. So it would be Steve, Jason Seucof and myself, and then Jack, Seucof and myself, and then Glen, Seucof and myself. During my solos it was just me and Jason and we had a great time. I was adding different guitar parts and solos that no one had heard, but they trusted that Jason wouldn't let me get away with anything too out there. Jay even came up with some cool parts and did a solo or four.

SFM: The band recently completed a North America tour before the album came out. How was the reception and turnout?

KQ: The turnouts were all really solid, some of the best shows I've played with them. That L.A. show was awesome – great tour package and people were asking a lot about the album and wanting to hear some new tunes.

SFM: How do you balance putting new songs into the setlist before the album is released when fans wouldn't yet know the songs?

KQ: We didn't play any songs from the new album. There was talk about it and we were going to, but then didn't in the end. We could have played the title track because it was released online and had a pretty good amount of views, but we are saving them for next time. I can't wait to start playing these songs live and hope we play a lot of them.

SFM: These days it seems like concerts continue to get more expensive while bands play shorter and shorter sets. You guys generally seem to play about 18-20 songs, which is better than a lot of bands do. How do you guys determine the ideal number of songs to make sure fans are satisfied?

KQ: We try to play about 1:15 to 1:20. Some of their songs are short so that will add up to 18-20 songs. It will be interesting to see how many from the new album we end up playing and which songs get dropped. There are some that are must plays in their history for sure.

SFM: A lot of bands are starting to play albums in their entirety live. Is this something Deicide would do in the future, and if so, which album would be most likely? Most Deicide albums are short enough that you guys could do this and still play a ton of stuff from other records.

KQ: None of the older albums will ever be played in their entirety. If it ever happened it would be this new album, ‘In The Minds Of Evil.’ We will be getting all 11 songs prepared, but that's just in case a song gets requested live that we didn't intend on playing. We want to be able to interchange them. Maybe a song is great on CD but we lose people live, so we want to be able to fix that and not drop a song or play one of those for an entire tour.

SFM: How do you feel the older death metal bands are going to hold up over the next decade or so given the physical demands of the music? Thrash bands seem to be doing ok so far, but death metal is even a few notches higher in intensity.

KQ: The biggest concern I'd have is with the drummers, they are the ones pulling off a marathon every night. The rest of us can just stand there and chill as long as our wrist, arms and hands hold up.

SFM: Being in Deicide is a great opportunity to bring out some great new, young death metal bands on tour. Are there any specific bands you'd like to have open for you guys to get more exposure?

KQ: Well, I'm never asked about such situations, but let me see what I can come up with… I don't know if a band would be a death metal band, though. I like a mixed package, but not hardcore or anything like that. A black metal band or different genre of death... We'd like to take Disgorge on the road again, they were great to tour with. I got into Ne Obliviscaris, but I'm probably the only one that would enjoy that. Lecherous Nocturne are old friends from South Carolina, so that would be great again.

SFM: Any last words for the fans out there?

KQ: Thanks for reading. Give the new album a listen and come see us on tour – we'll be playing a lot of new songs and the classics you want to hear.