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AUTOPHAGY
Bacteriophage

Pulverised (2022)
Rating: 8/10

This isn’t the Chilean death metal act of the same name but an American band out of Portland, Oregon which released its debut demo four years ago. I honestly thought they’d vanished, but it’s good to see the four-piece back with a full-length and a truly filth-ridden and crushing offering it is too.

It’s quite difficult trying to keep up with the amount of rotten death metal bands doing the rounds, and while the scene is overcrowded it has yet to show signs of weakening because literally every band of this ilk has released superb albums… and Bacteriophage is one of them.

Like a lot of death metal bands, Autophagy slips effortlessly between slower, gnashing dynamics to faster bursts of extremity. However, all the while the sound remains fetid and smothering, mostly because the guitar tone feels so rich in morbidity and atmosphere, coupled with those dense, guttural bellows of Adam Wheeler.

The doomier strains of this record are what make it so hideous and putrid and ‘Sacrificial Spawn’ is a prime example of how the band remains so darn catchy but spews up huge clotted lumps of ash and congealed flesh, although just around the corner is a faster torrent of deathly abuse.

‘Return To Charnal Hall’ is one of the fastest compositions on offer, but then resorts to an absolutely killer churning chug, while ‘Dawn Of The Endless Plague’ is another feisty barrage before the percussive thuds lessen to a damp slog in time with the gloom-drenched riffs.

If you dig stuff like Sedimentum, Tomb Mold, Toughness, Mortuous and Undeath but with a Bolt Thrower-style of juggernaut riffing, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t like this heap of mouldy metal.

Neil Arnold

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