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GOUGER / GORE SHRIEK
Gouger / Gore Shriek Split EP

F H E D (2022)
Rating: 8/10

If you are new to the death metal scene then I introduce to you two fantastic British bands, Gouger and Gore Shriek, who have joined forces to puke out this split project.

Glasgow duo Gouger provide four tracks on this outing, while London-based trio Gore Shriek contribute two songs. Gouger began life last year and I recommend their debut demo Cranial DEMOlition. Meanwhile, Gore Shriek has quite a few releases under their belt, including four EPs.

These two bands sum up the better side of the genre, whereby numerous acts the world over are spurting out slurping death metal sickness. There’s nothing clinical or hygienic about either of these horror-ridden bands.

The four Gouger cuts are short and gone in the blink of an eye, but they all make their impact as extreme, sloppy chugging monstrosities of gore infected with deep, bellowing mucus-lined chest infection vocals and grinding, bone-splintering riffage. My favourites are the brain mingling sewage of opener ‘Savagely Skewered’ and sodden rendition of ‘Season Of The Witch’.

Gore Shriek, however, treat us to a brace of slightly longer tracks, and with ‘Infernal Crawling Mass’ there’s an initial morbid, gloomier tone before the pace kicks in. Meanwhile, ‘Victim After Victim’ is equally macabre in its approach.

Even so, both bands are well matched – a grotesquely gruesome twosome that hit you with mid-paced bloodied mud, then slice n’ dice you with bone-rattling bludgeoning.

The UK death metal scene has never been better. And if you throw in the likes of Putrid Fate, Rancid Cadaver, Coffin Mulch, Slimelord, Vaticinal Rites, Trenchfoot, Sewer Fiend and Visions From Beyond then you’ve got a literal festering swamp of talent. Drown yourself in the decay.

Neil Arnold

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