I grabbed this 5 song EP for review for 1 simple fact; Jon Huber. The former vocalist of I Declare War, Pathology, and I Detest ( as well as live vocals for Whitechapel back on the day), has been one of my favorite vocalists for a while now since I heard his blast furnace of a voice on I Declare War’s debut Amidst the Bloodshed waaaaay back in 2007. And I’ve waiting for him to deliver another project for a while now.
So he’s teamed up with some of his relatively unknown pals, guitarist Sean May (Covidectomy) and young ( like teenager young…..) drummer Nikhil Talwalkar (Anal Stabwound, Engulfed in Repugnance) and self released a debut EP last year, and been re-released on Vile Tapes, the label owned by Traumatomy’s Constantine Chevardin (I’m surprised Comatose hadn’t picked up the rights to this, its a perfect fit).
So what we have here is brutal, slammy death metal in the vein of Devourment, Pyrexia and of course, his past project Pathology (though lacking the subtle melodics). It’s quick (the EP is a brisk 13 minutes, with 4 songs and an intro) simple, to the point and brutal as fuck. Huber, is of course a monster, and Talwalkar looks to be a rising drumming star in the metal world.
The 4 songs from “Circadian Servitude” to pummeling closer “Pale Horse” all hit the spot with ample moments of lumbering beef (in particular, “Fading Into Oblivion” and start of “Genocidal Processes”) amid the typically blustery, blasty, US styled brutal death metal; Nothing more, nothing less, and the production doesn’t makes the mistake of having the snare too high a tippy tappy. Overall, it’s great to hear Huber again and this is competent as all get out and certainly a strong new player in the genre to keep an eye out for.
