Disentomb: Sunken Chambers Of Nephilim

Who knew people still made brutal death metal? I thought the deathcore trend swallowed up the last of these bands. Sign me the hell up! There are enough random pinch harmonics on the first track to teach Zakk Wylde a thing or two about decadence. This is so nostalgic it brings me back to the days before technical death metal became the norm in extreme music. Get on your toes and pray that you see the dawn. If you’re not careful, you’ll get pulverized.

On the back of the CD case there’s even a guy wearing a Wormed shirt, Wormed! This is intelligently played death metal. Disentomb are like caveman who made the wheel, loincloths and all the other awesome commodities we use today.

The barrage of power chords these guys throw at the listener is a little scary. I know it’s all about leads today, but the amount of chugging they do would require the stamina of an ox to pull off live. It’s surprisingly melodic despite the, sometimes, stigmatic label of brutal death metal. Brutal death just happens to be the vehicle these guys chose for this release. Yes, it’s brutal, but it has enough awesome moments to separate itself from being thrown into the group of troglodytes that was the brutal death metal scene of yore.

Death metal has become so self-indulgent in recent years, it’s nigh impossible to find a band that isn’t showcasing the talents of their members as opposed to making interesting music. Even when bands claim that they are all about the music they mess it up by overplaying.

In a scene where production and chops mean more than songwriting, it’s always cool when a band puts forth an honest and compelling release. It’s exciting to see that bands can still pull this style off.

In A Word: Brutal