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WRITHING SHADOWS
Writhing Shadows

Gurgling Gore / Dawnbreed (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

Dressed in a bootleg European-style cover (if you have the cassette), the debut full-length album from Birmingham, Alabama-based death metal combo Writhing Shadows hits you like a chainsaw; gnashing at the gashes it constantly creates.

This is one of those modern death metal releases that like so many, is happy to provide slo-mo drudgery alongside fleshier, pacier grinds. First of all, it’s not original death metal and the comparisons to the likes of Bolt Thrower will soon rise from the butchery. But there is some killer melody on this eight-track outing as well as uglier, unrelenting segments.

My favourite cut has to be the chugging menace of ‘Valkyrie Of Blood’, which for me sums up the general sound of the band with that mashing chuggery and the dry cough pukes of the vocalist. There’s Swedish influence too on the likes of ‘Void Of Curse’, which is far more foaming and belligerent where the percussion is delivered at an alarming level of hammering. But I also like the almost punkier groove of the guitar matched by the infectious bass lines, before the band lowers itself into that wretched bog once more to trudge with evil aplomb.

‘Hunted By The Light’ begins with a familiar grind, where again there’s that Swedish influence mixed with Bolt Thrower algorithms as the combo grinds effectively with melody and dehydrated perversity. Meanwhile, ‘Devourment Of God’s People’ again rings with that Bolt Thrower sluggishness and is a true battering ram of a cut brimming with heaviness and, dare I say it, hardcore trudging. But it always remains filthy and meaty, flecked with morose leads which snake through the smog.

Not a lot beats death metal when it goes into creepy mode and there’s plenty of that filthy fatness on here to chew on. The fetid buzz of ‘Empire Of Rot’ lumbers with an almost Hellhammer / Celtic Frost vibe initially before the blistering pace comes in, while the metal mash-up continues with the excellent thrashing death of ‘Born Of Dying Stars’. However, it’s my other favourite track ‘Carcass Of A Godbeast’ which injects me the most with its squalid hammering.

When opener ‘Warplust Contortions’ hits, the album is pretty much set up and rarely diverts from its path of gloomier, sluggish war grind to faster, yet still catchy outbursts. Those with a penchant for straight up death metal will find much to savour in this grisly slab of simplistic butchery.

Neil Arnold

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