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BODYFARM
The Coming Scourge

Cyclone Empire (2013)
Rating: 7/10

Bodyfarm are a Dutch death metal band who’ve been ripping flesh since 2009, and hot on the heels of their 2012 debut Malevolence comes 2013’s The Coming Scourge.

The quartet is fronted by chief growler Thomas Wouters, who also plays guitar. Wouters is joined by fellow finger-shredder Bram Hilhorst, bassist Mathieu Westerveld and drummer Quint Meerbeek. The sound these guys create can best be described as old school death metal, although some may be rather irritated by the clear Swedish influences which literally erupt from those chainsaw guitars and Wouters’ gravelled rasps.

Even so, this is groove-based death metal at times, and is catchy in its brutality, with a modern twist that evokes the snarling intensity of a range of bands, including Jungle Rot, Asphyx and Entombed. There’s certainly nothing fancy about this battering ram of a record, which starts like a juggernaut from the off with ‘Unbroken’ and the war-torn ‘Frontline Massacre’ spitting bone and blood. This is pretty heavy stuff that also touches upon the more dismal gleams of Bolt Thrower, such is its juddering chug.

The band instil elements of speed too, which at times comes as a nice surprise. This is especially apparent on the ominous strains of ‘Vortex Of Terror’, which actually has more in common with Slayer in its darkened twist and melody, before becoming a rancid speed-fest with punkoid rust added for effect. The title track is equally vicious, combining a double-vocal attack with those frenzied drums and infectious hooks.

Bodyfarm aren’t the sort of band who are going to break new ground, but just when you think you’ve simply slapped on a revival opus you become engulfed by that killer title track and the rain-soaked interlude of ‘Eden’s Destruction’ (which is more Metallica than anything). In turn, ‘Eden’s Destruction’ leads you on another route to hostility, namely the barbaric pace of ‘The Well Of Decay’ with its black metal connotations and deep, guttural growls. This is the sort of track where Bodyfarm move away from the usual Swedish influences, and become a more scathing, sneering beast.

The band has a great eye for the epic too, and are masters at simmering intros. Nowhere more do they get this brooding arrogance across than on ‘The Frozen Halls’, which is a real stormy, oozing beast of a track and certainly features Thomas Wouters’ best vocal performance.

The Coming Scourge may not tread the same sacred halls as the recent Grand Supreme Blood Court opus, but for flesh-ripping, eye-gouging, bone-crunching old school death metal dynamics, this – despite its flaws and lack of originality – is still a very good record that will please fans of fast as well as slower extreme metal. Good stuff.

Neil Arnold

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