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LAST RETCH
Sadism And Severed Heads

CDN (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

It was the lyric video for the track ‘Cannibals Of Tuma’ which alerted me to this gnashing Canadian combo. This debut full-length outing is built on strong, Swedish-style death metal riffery – you know the score by now; big, chewy chainsaw chugging that’s both catchy yet severing as it runs like two jagged blades ploughing through flesh and discarded bone nonchalantly.

Atop this mountain of decapitated limbs is a destructive percussive theme, a rugged bass and cough-laden guttural growls, and while there’s nothing original to be heard it’s very much a stripped back homage to the early 90s.

The aforementioned ‘Cannibals Of Tuma’ grooves along rather nicely with a steady mid-paced tempo and that theme persists throughout, although the lovingly titled ‘Dead As Fuck’ has more of a dissonant air due to its cold, abrasive tones but again there’s that menacing chug. ‘Your Last Retch’ is another of similar design; earthy, deep, gouging death metal of no frills just doing its thing in heavyweight measures.

However, amongst the mud and congealed blood there are spicier efforts, namely ‘Neurosis’ with its jarring riffage and pummelling skin work. But my favourite track of the lot is ‘Ordained In A Dismal Cesspool’ which features Daniel Bonofiglio (Fumes / Gutvoid / Grotesque Mass). This tune just writhes like a mud-caked serpent, gloomy in its twists and perverse in its melody, and it does sum up the monstrous nature of this opus which grows on me with each bellowing bludgeoning.

While not as infinitely rewarding as some of the murkier modern releases, Sadism And Severed Heads still shovels copious amounts of sodden clay your way and acts as a crushing reminder that simple death metal can still be constructed in today’s boggy climate.

Neil Arnold

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