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DUNGEON
Into The Ruins EP

Dying Victims Productions (2023)
Rating: 7/10

London / Berlin speed metallers Dungeon have emerged from a five year hibernation with a new five-song EP, Into The Ruins. I had hoped for something lengthier from the quartet but 21 minutes of black n’ rust will have to do for now.

There is plenty of D-beat devastation on offer here as the combo once again explores the depths of British sediment by clogging together flashes of Venom and Discharge as well as vintage Sodom and old Morbid Angel. As a unit Dungeon serves up plenty of grit, and what they lack in originality they more than make up for with aggression, but it is difficult to feel enthused over such tried and tested formulas.

Opener ‘Nagasaki Sunrise’ reminds me of old Possessed, Bulldozer and Venom. Vocalist Luke Drew brings familiar rasps from the crypt, his slurping and rants spit alcohol and rust at the wiry primal assaults of the frenzied axework. ‘Put Them In Their Graves’ is equally chaotic and raw with those smashing drums which clatter with hellish aplomb. However, of the quintet of tracks on offer it is ‘Beneath The Church’ that draws me in the mist with its suspenseful opening, but every track is all too eager to follow a familiar path of clattering, although closer ‘Ruins’ merges punk and black metal successfully.

I think if I’d heard such a brawl in 1986 I’d have been foaming at the mouth, and while over 30 years later I can still appreciate such a tumult, it’s just that now I’m too old to let it shake my bones.

Neil Arnold

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