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CRONENBERG
Unmake What They’ve Made EP

Blackened Death (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

BrainBath, Coffin Mulch, Putrid Fate, Rancid Cadaver, Trench Foot, Gouger, Gore Shriek et al, and now another UK-based death metal act, this time being the brainchild of Nova Scotia, Canada-born multi-instrumentalist Grandmaster Flush who comes chugging out the traps on this one with the rhythmic instrumental ‘Internal Metamorphosis’. The track rumbles like a sturdy generator, never really veering off its path but acting as a way to drive us into the depths of this four-track affair.

The unintelligible logo (like so many) hides a rather crushing release from an artist that two years ago began life with the Body Horror EP and then followed it quickly with the Gorehammer full-length. So those familiar with Cronenberg will know that lyrically Grandmaster Flush has been inspired by the brilliant film director David Cronenberg’s work, although it’s a shame that the trio of releases don’t seem to have been released physically.

‘Unguided Mutation’ churns with an immense groove that flirts with doomy connotations at first but then a stark percussive nodding takes over, accompanied merely by the snappy rasps of the vocal before we get a Slayer-esque groove. Although Cronenberg is a death metal act, there’s more going on with this featuring some interesting moments away from the standard, gore-obsessed pummelling. But it’s all incredibly catchy stuff with an almost slurping, industrialised vocal assault.

‘Biomechatronic Invasion’ is a much faster attack and hints at a more classic death metal design, churning and chugging with a thrashing intensity, while ‘Mask Of The Assassin’ wraps things up with further rolling riffage, deftly jarring but always maintaining a level of catchiness in a sense similar to, say, Cancer.

I hope this one doesn’t slip under the death metal radars of everyone because there’s some excellent riffing on this EP, so if you have an obsession with body horror and death metal this is clearly a match made in Hell.

Neil Arnold

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