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HELMSPLITTER
Enraptured By Suffering

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions (2014)
Rating: 7.5/10

Illinois death thrashers Helmsplitter are quite new on me, although this is the band’s second opus following on from 2011’s Storms Of Genocide. Helmsplitter has clearly found the knack of churning out oily, rattling metal with vicious vocals and blistering pace. The band is fronted by Blakk who has a venomous rasp to his tone, which works well with the often catchy riffs injected by Ross Mallie.

Enraptured By Suffering is a surprisingly infectious little record that features some unhealthy grooves, combining deathlier details with black thrash rust. Nate Boyd’s drums are ominous throughout, adding extra weight to the already crushing bass of Lyndon Ehlers, enabling tracks such as ‘World So Wicked’, ‘Aura Of Suicide’, ‘Panzram’ and ‘Forged In Fire’ to roll smoothly as extremely catchy numbers.

‘World So Wicked’ is my favourite track on the record, a prime example of how the group combines extremely riveting melody with aggressive passages. The vocals are reasonably diverse; one moment appearing as a gritty, guttural sneer, the next with a black metal rasp as the guitars alter from deathlier churning to scathing extremity.

The more I listen to this 11-track platter, the more entertained I become; these guys have so many influences that it’s actually quite difficult to categorise them as merely thrashy death metal. For instance, ‘The Ground Bleeds Sorrow’ has a real doom-laden tinge to it, as does ‘Burden Of Our Existence’. With the aforementioned ‘World So Wicked’, on the other hand, there’s a sludgy opening riff before the band enter old school death metal territory, with Boyd’s drums knitting together the gruesome bass and the groove-based – and, dare I say it – bluesy guitar making this track a peculiar mix of stoner rock and deathlier thrashing. Odd, and yet clearly a successful formula, before the band quicken the pace to become a salivating beats of spitting hate.

The band is effortless in offering diversity to their sound, meaning that Enraptured By Suffering is far from being a bog-standard release. There are times throughout when the band chooses to keep things simple but this also works due to the variety elsewhere, and the injections of crusty punk and doom metal is certainly welcome.

Since the album was recorded, Helmsplitter has become a five-piece with the addition of guitarist Jason Grevas, and I hope fans of extreme metal latch onto this bunch because this should appeal to anyone who likes a wide range of bands, from old school Morbid Angel to mid to late 90s groove-based metal. When one reads of the myriad of bands mentioned on the press release in regards to who Helmsplitter are influenced by, then it’ll come as no great shock when you hear the record. Of course, I’m not saying that these guys are masters of the avant-garde – far from it. This is still thrashing death metal but it’s always nice when a band tries something different, so give them a chance to grow on you.

Neil Arnold

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