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SCOTTISH SICKNESS – A Report On The Scottish Death Metal Scene, Featuring BRAINBATH, PUTRID FATE And RANCID CADAVER
Neil Arnold
October 2022


BrainBath (l-r): Kendo, Warmaster Kwondo, Lobotomizer, Barrett and Blooter


Back during the halcyon death metal scene of the 80s and early 90s numerous scenes emerged within the fleshy folds of the genre. We had the Florida death metal scene with bands such as Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Massacre and Obituary, while across the pond there was the Swedish scene with bands such as Entombed, Dismember, Grave and Carnage. Fast-forward to 2022 and somehow Scotland is experiencing an uprising of death metal, the likes of which the British Isles has never seen before. So I decided to pack my flask, long johns and lunch and head off in search of just three of the bands responsible for this surge of murkiness, BrainBath, Putrid Fate and Rancid Cadaver, to ask just what is happening in the Scottish water to get me more excited than my visit to Loch Ness in 1996?

“I think there’s a real appetite for particularly old school sounding metal in Glasgow and Scotland right now,” says Kendo (aka Kenneth James Woods), lead guitarist for five-piece maniacs BrainBath. “Whether that be death, black, thrash, hardcore, speed, etc. People really want that sound, and that type of band wasn’t as prevalent, and perhaps pre-lockdown we weren’t getting that type of gig coming to Scotland, so I genuinely believe a lot of bands have been born out of making the music they would want to hear being played and I’m all the more happy for it.”

It’s got me thinking that all this Covid negativity has planted a seed of creativity and that the lockdown stress has prompted people to get the juices flowing, and particularly in Scotland. “On top of ourselves, Coffin Mulch, Rancid Cadaver and Putrid Fate, you have excellent acts the like Penny Coffin, Tymvos, Ageless Summoning, Tyrannus, Sacrificial Burial, Embolism, Chestcrush etc. in Scotland performing to packed shows, and it’s creating a buzz,” adds Kendo. “Before, a lot of big acts would dodge Scotland all together, although now they want to be part of these packed audiences and we all know Scottish crowds are the best!”

“There’s definitely a scene,” agrees Rory MacAulay, the brainchild behind Putrid Fate. “And I owe everything to the guys from the bands you mention, plus Penny Coffin, and London band Gore Shriek, and the Gouger guys. They were the first guys I spoke to, and then when it comes to recording Joe [Joseph Edward Kelly] from Penny Coffin has been a massive help.”

It’s just strange yet almost mystical and spiritual in a sense that there’s a glut of great extreme metal bands emerging around the same time. “I think the output of quality bands currently comes from the fact that for a long time there was a lot of, I guess, throwaway bands, just typical local bands that play a few shows then kinda fizzle out, and a majority of them were pretty average,” interjects Rancid Cadaver vocalist / bassist Ross Dunn. “Finding the gems wasn’t hard, though it was few and far between. I guess folk just wanted change and wanted the quality of the scene to get better so they started forming bands, and for the last four years the quality of local bands and local shows in general has risen a lot. And being part of that has been excellent.”

I almost sense that there’s that almost incestuous nature with some of the bands in that some musicians are appearing for more than one band. “Yes,” booms Warmaster Kwondo (aka Kenny Campbell), vocalist not only for BrainBath but for other reprobates Gouger. “All the bands in the Scottish scene know each other well, and we’ll becoming more powerful than you can possible imagine (laughs). Although seriously, there’s just a great audience here and the gigs are truly amazing in Glasgow now, so that encourages bands to start!”

It seems that a lot of bands started around the same time? “BrainBath primarily kicked off around end of summer 2020 during lockdown,” states Kendo. “At that time in Scotland – and I’m sure most places in the world – it was not permitted to go to someone else’s house, although certain businesses were allowed to operate, one of those being a studio. So originally, it was a way to see our friends via lockdown in a legal way. We grabbed our instruments, a bag of cans and met up in the studio / rehearsal space. There was no real plan, just jam, have a good laugh and drink some tins.”

For Rancid Cadaver it was slightly later that the ball started rolling. “The band formed at the start of 2021 by our guitarist Higgy [Kieran Higgins] and our original vocalist Lee [Lewis] who were both playing in different bands at the time,” reveals Dunn. “We were originally called Seeping Tomb but we changed it because Rancid Cadaver sounded better. I sent Higgy a message on Instagram after seeing he had asked for bassists and drummers, he then sent me a demo of the style he was thinking of playing and I said I’d be happy to play bass for it.”

I heard that things didn’t begin instantly though? “A few months went by and Lee asked his band mates Ali [Alasdair Blair, lead guitar] and Conor [Quinn, drums] of his other band [Bhàs] if they were interested in joining our new band, which they were,” confirms Dunn. “Our line-up has remained the same since with the only change being me now doing vocals as well as bass since Lee’s departure.”

How about you Rory, was it more difficult as Putrid Fate are basically a one-man outfit? “It just came about as something to do for fun,” explains MacAulay. “A lot of friends in my life have seemed to study music or be in bands which I was always kinda jealous of, and it wasn’t ’till recently I was like it would be cool just to say I have some music out. Metal is a massive part of who I am whether it’s every item of clothing having a band logo on it or my room having guitars and cassette tapes everywhere, so really it just seemed like an ideal hobby to get into where I can be a bit creative and do it all in the comfort of my home and not need to rely on anyone apart from myself.”

“For us,” Kwondo elaborates, “it originally started out with myself, Kendo on lead guitar, Andy Black [aka Lobotomizer] on rhythm guitar and David McLennan of Coffin Mulch on drums – David has since been replaced by Sean Gillen, otherwise known as Blooter. We met up in a small drum rehearsal space called The Drumpad ML in our home town Wishaw, Lanarkshire and started jamming. I put a snippet of what we were doing via video on Facebook and the response was mad! People we didn’t even know asking if we were a band, or if we would be doing CDs, shirts etc. We were stunned as it literally was just pals jamming ideas! From that video, our good pal Sean Barrett of Nyctopia saw what we were up to and wanted to join in with playing and drinking cans, so joined up on bass and that was the line-up originally.”


Rory MacAulay (Putrid Fate)

2022 has certainly been a crazy yet creative time for you all resulting in some fantastic releases with BrainBath issuing a self-titled EP, Rancid Cadaver issuing the Flesh Monstrosity EP and Putrid Fate offering up the Feast On Flesh EP. “I’m totally new to all this and I’ve got no experience in terms of studying music in high school or college,” admits MacAulay, “so it took a while of recording some god awful songs that I’m thankful only about two people have heard, haha! But I think near the end of 2021 was when I felt like I had a decent knowledge of the basics so did everything just as a hobby, hence the timing errors and many mistakes in the release, like, I don’t remember half the riffs and the vocals were just made up on the spot (laughs).”

Well, sometimes that spontaneous sort of action can make something seem more organic, primitive or raw. “As much as I kinda hate the release I will give myself credit,” acknowledges the Putrid Fate mainman. “I think there are some cool riffs in there like in the chorus of ‘Cemetery’, and although ‘Decompose’ was just a short filler song I think the last part where there’s actually music sounds pretty cool. It’s just a shame the production was pretty shit on the release, but that has definitely changed. I’ve learned so much since then and I actually try to put a bit more effort into it now (laughs).”

Well, we all have to start somewhere. “In regards to the tape,” adds MacAulay. “I just recorded it from my Hi-Fi which was a pain because it’s time consuming, and then because I don’t have Photoshop the J-card was a slight pain because I couldn’t do it myself and I hate bothering people to do stuff for me. So, in the future hopefully I can get a label to make them for me or I’ll try to find somewhere to produce them, and they should hopefully be better quality than my DIY ones (laughs).”

Well, you can’t beat yourself up. I really enjoyed the demo and look forward to the next one. I am intrigued however as to how you all got into the metal scene to start with? “I first got into metal around the age of nine or ten years old,” says Dunn. “I pretty much got into it through pro wrestling and video games. But it really escalated after buying Guitar Hero 3 which got me into a wider range of bands, and it’s pretty much snowballed from there.”

So what sort of bands influenced you then, Ross? “Off the top of my head I’d say, Alexi Laiho [Children Of Bodom], Alex Webster and George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher [Cannibal Corpse], Les Claypool [Primus], bassist and composer Alex Weber [Malignancy and WAIT], Ryan Martinie [Mudvayne] and countless others.”

How about you BrainBath guys? “In 1991/92 Guns N’ Roses were the big pull,” reveals Kwondo. “I loved Appetite For Destruction [1987] and from that started listening to Iron Maiden, then it got progressively heavier… the likes of Machine Head was just out.”

“For me personally,” says Kendo, “I’ve always been surrounded by heavy or extreme music. My dad was in both punk and grind bands from the 70s and throughout the 80s, and my mum was a classic rocker enjoying bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Doors etc. I also had an older brother who was a teenager in the 80s who was metal daft. I would sneak into his room and listen to his tapes, the likes of Sepultura, Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies, Sodom and Bathory. Plus, him being a huge Warhammer fan was my introduction to bands like Bolt Thrower. I literally heard my first death metal based on how cool I thought the Bolt Thrower albums Realm Of Chaos [1989] and War Master [1991] covers looked on the tape [due to the Games Workshop themes]. Although if I was to name one thing, being a child of the 80s I was a massive fan of Transformers, and I kid you not I would play the original 1986 movie soundtrack constant. It had a lot to do with my love for guitar music and I guess with an upbringing like that I was always going to be a metal guy!”

Was it the same sort of stuff that influenced you Rory? “Yeah, I’ve always been around metal and rock in some shape or form growing up from my older brother or parents. Even though it’s not the same stuff I listen to it’s definitely gotten me into the metal I like. The main influences are definitely Mortician. There are other brutal death metal bands that I want to take more influence from but overall Mortician has got to be the main one. I just want to release the heaviest sounding shit.”

I’d be pretty shocked if there wasn’t a horror influence in there too? “I do collect old VHS horror tapes,” admits MacAulay. “But I try to collect whatever ones look like they’ll have a crap story but crazy practical effects. So I definitely want to include some of the classics I’ve found over the years in the future samples. Another thing to note is the band Gouger is a major influence as I was making my EP and they released their demo, so to see a band from Glasgow do shit I want to do is a great motivator.

“I do enjoy the classic horror movies, but I wouldn’t say the genre as a whole influenced me into getting into metal.”

Kwondo seems a bit more enthused: “In terms of a horror theme, I’d heard Eaten Back To Life [1990] by Cannibal Corpse and had the poster on my door which my mum absolutely hated! At that point I did start watching horror films, and the first ever horror movies I saw were Return Of The Living Dead and The Fog, and now I boast something like 500+ horror films and I genuinely can’t count the LPs, tapes and CDs of metal I’ve got (laughs).”

It’s great to have such passion; I’ve collected records, cassettes and horror VHS videos for over 35 years so I can share your love and see where the influence comes in. I’ve loved everything so far that the Scottish scene has puked out, are there plans for more releases in the near future, especially full-length releases? “Yes,” says Kendo emphatically. “A BrainBath full length is both a major ask of our followers who want to see more songs and music and a large goal for ourselves personally. As a band, we’re proud of what we put together on the EP, although we really want to spend the time writing a full album both because we have more ideas we want to throw out and also really show what we can do with a proper process this time. We’ll still have that energy and 80s feel to what we do, just this time with a bit of polish and care taking when developing the songs. We don’t even know what we’re capable of yet, so it’s something we’re excited about, but it’s a while off yet as the EP only been around for a few months.”

“I have a lot of lyrics and themes conjured up,” adds Kwondo. “And a full length will be what we will be working on going forward, plus we want to add more songs to our live set, so it is the major focus and plan going forward.”

And this will of course result in more of those wild live Scottish live shows I’ve heard so much about? In August BrainBath supported Cryptworm, and your resume is building. “In terms of securing gigs, we’ve been surprised with the amazing offers,” beams Kendo. “We’ve been so fortunate to have been offered amazing slots with some incredible bands, and not all death metal either. Some of our best shows have been with different genres and sounds. We played with black metal guys Necronautical and Wolvencrown which was some blast. We were also lucky enough to receive the support slot for all-female bands Nervosa and Burning Witches, which was probably our first experience of seeing such a big production touring many cities and countries. Although possibly my favourite performance has to be supporting epic heavy metal titans Eternal Champion – those guys are some blast. So yeah, a mix of the underground and our own events, plus some amazing opportunities and different genres of metal… the gigs keep rolling on!”

I guess it’s been a lot harder for you Rory as you’re the sole contributor to the Putrid Fate sound so acquiring gigs is probably lower on the agenda as opposed to getting a full-length out? “I think a full-length is the next thing in the works,” he agrees. “The main goal is having something just over half an hour long, like ideally 35 minutes long roughly.

“Everything should be sounding a lot better now with the drums being improved, the guitars being recorded better and my vocals have improved a lot. I’m trying to make note of the lyrics as well as I think it would be cool to have them included in the physical releases as I’ve had a couple of people ask for the lyrics, but sadly there’s nothing I can give them (laughs). I should hopefully have a job now that I’ve finished Uni, so anything now should be better in quality again as my current setup is very poor as I’m using an old laptop that struggles to run the recording software, and an audio interface that cost like £20 (laughs). But with the better equipment I would love to work on a split with someone, just to have my name next other killer bands… that would definitely be an achievement.”

I’m sure you’ll get there, and once you’ve developed a sound you are happy with maybe there will be gigs in the future? “For now sadly no gigs,” reveals MacAulay. “But I’m slightly more open to the idea it’s just more a case of me building up the confidence to do it because I hate having too much attention on myself in general (laughs).”


Rancid Cadaver (l-r): Alasdair Blair, Conor Quinn, Ross Dunn and Keiran Higgins

How about you Ross, what’s next for Rancid Cadaver? “We can’t say for certain what we are planning just yet,” says Dunn. “We are just continuing to write and try and play as many shows as possible to promote the EP – just keeping the momentum going. The scene is in a great place at the moment and everyone knows each other and gets along, and with that comes networking and PR opportunities that lead to your name getting out there, outside the country.”

Do any of you guys see your bands “progressing” beyond the classic, horror-soaked death metal sound or are you happy with your style? “I honestly don’t know as a lot of it depends on my guitar ability,” admits MacAulay. “There is a lot of brutal death metal I’d love to make but it can be very fast and technical so that could take a while to get to the stage of doing that, but maybe a more natural progression would be to play more old school death metal stuff but more like Ripping Corpse, Deicide and Cannibal Corpse. Although I do quite like my Mortician death, grind kinda style, so I might just stick with this and try to make the heaviest shit I can, like no nonsense straight to the point horror samples and death metal.”

Kwondo, you seem to agree? “If it isn’t broke, don’t fuck with it (laughs). People seem to like this sound and have a real appetite for it, so we want to keep delivering it. I’m fortunate as I have side projects like Gouger where I can dump other themes or what I’m feeling at other times, although we have a great DIY or DIE vibe when BrainBath write or play music, so we’re going to keep that type of process. The music may not come out exactly the same but certainly the same mentality will be used.”

Kendo, you seem as equally lifted by what the future holds for BrainBath? “I mentioned earlier, we don’t even know what we’re capable of ourselves! All we know is from the sensational encouragement and backing from supporters to make more music, we are super up for delivering something really inspired that we’ve took time on and really pushed ourselves with.”

I sense from you Ross that the Rancid Cadaver sound may shift? “The sound we have is great, we all love it but we’re all into different types of death metal and extreme music in general, so there may come a time where we write some faster, more technical stuff, but I’d like to think we’d also keep in line with the sound we’ve already got. We don’t exactly follow a certain formula when writing; it’s really all down to what we’re feeling in the moment and bouncing back and forth ideas to ensure we’re getting the best out of our music.”

Hopefully you’ll all get the exposure you deserve. I guess the power of the internet, more so with Bandcamp and social media, has been a real help. “I definitely feel it has benefited us,” states Dunn. “Especially as quite a few music reviewers with big followings have spoken about the EP.”

Kendo is in agreement: “If it wasn’t for the internet all those people we didn’t know asking for a shirt, a CD, if we’ll perform etc. wouldn’t have happened! I know a lot of people probably have a slant or shade they throw around about internet as a subject, especially when connected to music, although ultimately I see it as a tool. I feel if you relate to it like that, i.e. it’s a tool or place where we can demonstrate what we’re doing or show merch, music on offer and connect with people further away with it, that’s extremely positive in my opinion and it’s probably how I’ll always associate with it.”

Kwondo shares such sentiments: “I can’t fault the internet, as if we were really honest it’s how we really kicked off. That initial video we shared on Facebook of a jam was how we even got a following in the first place. We’ve also used it to promote the scene we have in Glasgow and Scotland just now; we’ve made no secret of calling it the ‘New Wave Of Scottish Death Metal’.”

And that New Wave Of Scottish Death Metal is very much upon us, consuming our souls just like those classic scenes all those hazy decades ago. “Bandcamp is ideal for promotion,” observes MacAulay. “Because as soon as you post something I think it ends up on the Bandcamp page for new releases, so that did a lot for me. But really I owe a lot to Kenny [Kwondo] from BrainBath and Gouger, he’s the one who shared everything and still continues to, but also he was the reason I’ve gotten to know people in the other bands. Without him I would have less than half the support I have now and if you know BrainBath they know what they’re doing, so an ideal band to have around to get help from with promotion and other things in general.”

The future is looking so bright for you all, but before I slip off back home, anything you guys would like to add? “To people reading this I’d say to support your local scene,” commands MacAulay.

“Just thank you for reading the interview,” says Dunn. “And thank you for supporting the release of Flesh Monstrosity, and thank you to Metal Forces… it means the world to us all.”

“Same from here,” beams Kendo in almost celebratory fashion. “We’re very grateful for Metal Forces taking the time to interview ourselves, plus lift the bonnet – or hood in the U.S. – to take a look at the incredible underground death metal scene in Scotland and we hope to see you at a show soon! Keep it Macho!”

“And thank you to the amazing continued support,” says Kwondo humbly. “We started out simply as people asked us to and we’ll keep going as long as people want to see and hear from us. Although if there’s one thing I can encourage everyone to do, go see local shows, go see what the underground is like in your area, you may be surprised at the quality and the unique bands you find. And if it’s not to your taste, make your own band – get out there! We certainly will keep pedalling the tremendous Scottish underground death metal scene and we encourage any band or person who wants to come along for the ride!”

And just like the mystical monster I never got to see back in 1996 while perched on the ancient shores of Loch Ness, BrainBath, Putrid Fate, Rancid Cadaver and the rest of the Scottish death metal clan will continue to entice us into their murky lairs of horror. Cheers guys, stay deathly!

Article published in October 2022.

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