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REVULSED
Cerebral Contamination

Everlasting Spew (2023)
Rating: 8/10

In 2015 Australian brutal death metallers Revulsed caused quite a stir with their debut platter Infernal Atrocity, but since then only a live album and a smattering of singles have emerged. Imagine my surprise then when Cerebral Contamination hit me, seemingly out of the blue, like a concrete slab falling from a great height.

Vocalist Damien Graves and drummer Jayson Sherlock are behind the wheel of this formidable beast, a slime-coated yet somewhat glossy affair that writhes in its own technical juices to form an impenetrable lair of squirming flurries and Suffocation-esque avenues. Okay, so this release lacks the chaotic rawness of the debut, although eight years is a long gap between releases, but with this album there is still that crushing riffage, oozing vocal monstrosities and maniacal hooks.

Within its organised entanglements I still hear a band seeking an identity because all too often bands liked Suffocation and Defeated Sanity spring to mind, the former definitely channelled on the tune ‘Beyond The Depths Of The Subconscious’. However, there is still enough savage technical trickery here to turn the brain to noodles, especially with the excellent ‘Inconceivable Hallucinations’ which drips with guttural nastiness while tying the sinews in knots.

At their most complex, Revulsed cough up the sonic spew of ‘Nefarious Devourment’ with its pulverising drums, but the Melbourne-based outfit can also convey a simpler style too as with ‘Monotheistic Postulation’ which overloads the ears with demented shredding.

The fact that guitarist Sheldon D’Costa and bassist Mark Smith have since left the band may suggest further inactivity, but for now Cerebral Contamination is more than enough to keep us going. At a tight 36 minutes this outing hits like a plague of frenzied locusts, leaving in its wake ravaged crops and shredded flesh. Aim of immediate devastation fully achieved.

Neil Arnold

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