Embryonic Depravity / Gorevent, Malignant Opus of...

East meets West in this eight track guttural, slamming face off between England’s Embryonic Depravity and Japan’s Gorevent. While the British five piece bludgeon through their half of the split with technical blasts, guitar squeals and intestine rupturing riffs, the old schoolers of Gorevent stay true to their neanderthal-like nature doing their damnedest to pulverize bone with little fanfare.

The match-up between the two bands is an interesting one as their styles are vastly different. On one hand, Embryonic Depravity appear to embrace more technicality in their overall sound. On the other, gore-crusted fist is a group that refuses to evolve much and simply hammer away with guttural growls and barbaric riffing. In the end, however, the result is the same — sick, gurgling, guttural, slamming death metal.

An Inferior Malediction
A sound clip starts off this first offering from Embryonic Depravity that lasts nearly a minute before slamming riffs and pile driving drums come in. The vocals are deep, guttural and completely unitelligible. There are several tempo shifts and a few guitar squeals throughout the song. The pace is ferocious except for those rare moments of levity where the more technical guitar and bass work shine.

Acephalous Transmutation
“Acephalous Transmutation” gets going with rapid fire drum blasts and thick riffs. Through the wall of riffs there is a decent groove hiding in the background. The bass makes much more of an appearance on this track than the previous. I’m digging the chugging riffs and lighter tones after the two minute mark.

Insurgence of Dogmatic Antiquity
This next one has a more structured start as the guys build on up to a frenzied, blasting aural assault. The drums around the 35 second mark are pretty slick and help break up the monotony that can come with thundering slam after thundering slam. The track ends with some technical guitar work that shines over the rabid blasts from the drums.

The Propagation of Decrepitude
The final track from Embryonic Depravity is chock full of massive riffs and bludgeoning rhythms that turn on and off like arcs of electricity. This track also has some of the thicker guitar tones and some varied vocals deliveries that help give it a refreshed sound.

World Septic
Gorevent open up their half of this split disc with “World Septic,” a no frills, chugging monstrosity of slam metal. The vocals consist of gurgling guttural growls and belches. There’s really not much to this song besides the more primitive sound and nature — which I think I sort of prefer. There’s actually a pretty decent groove that rears its head periodically through the chugging riffs and steady drum beat.

Gory the Body
“Gory the Body” starts off with a nice series of drum blasts to get the momentum flowing at the pace of primordial ooze. This song has an overall slower feel, but also comes across as much thicker in tone. The vocals are, once again, indecipherable grunt and gurgles. The drum work is a bit more varied with manic blasts exploding all over the place. There’s a nice slow down with only guitars around the 1:40 track that sees the band build back up slowly to crushing riffs and blasts.

The End Humanity
“The End Humanity” fades in quickly with thick guitars and guttural vocals. There’s a steady, bludgeoning pace to this one especially after the brief slowdown just before the one minute mark. I’m digging the stuff the band has got going on at the two minute mark. Then, there’s also the massive build back up at 2:30 with some massive riffs and thick guttural vocals.

Monition
I swear to all things unholy, Gorevent just ratcheted up the slam with thicker tones and solid layer of industrial sludge with the riffs on this final track. The overall feel is much more powerful and evil making it my favorite song on their half of the split. Layered vocals and thick tones really make this one stand out.

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Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
N/A