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INOCULATION
Actuality

Maggot Stomp (2025)
Rating: 7/10

Not to be confused with the Brazilian band of the same name, this particular mob hails from Cleveland, Ohio and Actuality is their third full-length experience. Inoculation plays interesting death metal in that the bass is extremely loose and the dual vocal attack is raspy as well as guttural. The trio of Anthony Allen (vocals and guitar), Nick Nedley (vocals and bass) and Charlie Winters (drums) provides a loathsome and sniping attack of technicality alongside a dash of slam.

This is very much modern death metal (although the guys released their first demo in 2011) propelled further into the cosmos by its cover art colours which have been striking throughout the bands career, particularly 2021 opus Celestial Putridity. First and foremost the riffs here are deliciously loose, so although Inoculation displays plenty of complexity there is a brashness and aggression. It’s not exactly my cup of tea throughout though, for probably the same reason I struggled with the band Necrovision; the raspy snaps just don’t sit right with me. There’s just a youthful, almost deathcore extremity here and I can’t warm to those types of vocals, but those aside it’s mildly entertaining.

Opener ‘Void Corpse Collection’ boasts some intriguing percussive patterns alongside the more obvious prominent bass slaps. With a few tracks there’s also a thrashy premise which strongly comes to the fore on ‘Structure Of Secrecy’ which is exceptionally vicious. However, in my opinion Inoculation is a far more potent beast when the scratchy vocals are replaced by the guttural coughs and when the straighter laced death metal approach is taken. For example, the opening grinding of ‘Divergent Timeline’ is a joy with its deep vocalisations and hefty riffage, and the same could also be said for the steadier chugs in ‘Orbital Decay’ and ‘Unobservable Phenomenon’.

There’s some really meaty stuff on offer on this platter and the drums are such a weapon of mass destruction, especially on the closer ‘Star Devil Predator’. I guess this outing is a bit of a mixed bag, and while I’m not a fan of the aforementioned vocal variations, Actuality remains steadfast in its ability to twist organs and bludgeon brains.

Neil Arnold

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