February 19, 2008 | , | 4

Facebreaker, Dead, Rotten and Hungry

If the heavy metal music industry were to give out Pulitzer-like awards for lyrical content then Facebreaker would surely win for best documentary with their latest tome on the dietary habits of the undead. Straightforward death metal delivers stories of zombies and flesh eaters that would make any horror movie screenwriter jealous with brain-eating rage. For just a sophomore release, Dead, Rotten and Hungry is a well balanced, well constructed death metal attack that shows plenty of old school influences and modern twists.

Maddening riffs combine with pummeling drums and bass filling the ears of the undead with groove oriented death metal. There are plenty of nicely timed tempo changes throughout the disc that jump from rapid fire cranial blows to long, slow rending of flesh from the bone. Add to the bloody mix the guttural barks and growls for frontman Roberth Karlsson and a superb production and you’re left with an album that should bring this band to the forefront of the genre on the backs of freshly arisen corpses.

Slowly Rotting
The band wastes no time getting into the storm of flying fists and gnashing teeth with “Slowly Rotting.” There’s a great underlying groove through the bludgeoning you’ll take on this opening track. Look out for the shredding lead at the 1:50 mark.

Dead, Rotten and Hungry
I love the opening riffs to the title track for this disc — they’re just down right evil. Once the rest of the band joins in you’ve got a groove ladened bit of death metal that’ll have your head banging with the undead in no time. This mid tempo track is a best of a song.

Night of the Burning Dead
An excellent bit of drum and riffing combo gets this one moving along nicely. The vocal cadence allows you to get into the groove almost immediately as Karlsson growls and barks away. I love the chorus on this one. There’s a nice bit of guitar work at the 1:48 mark that you’ll want to hear.

The Awakening
“The Awakening” picks up the pace a good deal as it fades in quickly. This one is nasty and unrelenting in it’s aural attack.

Walking Dead
I bet you can’t guess what this one is about. You’ve just got to love the blunt song titles. This disc is just too much fun to ignore. With “Walking Dead,” Facebreaker unleashes apocalyptic riffs and grooves galore. This very well could be my favorite track on a disc full of amazing songs.

Burner
An evil riff keeps the momentum flowing as the band settles into that uncompromising groove and riff combo. Even with the one dimensional feel of the concept for this album — that of the undead — the band really does an excellent job of keeping each track fresh and ghastly.

Consumed
Another evil as fuck riff gets “Consumed” moving with precision drum work. You’re in for some gruesomely awesome lyrics throughout this track. And you’ll be left with a madman’s grin on your face when it’s all said and done.

Unanimated Flesh
“Unanimated Flesh” has a great groove running though its length courtesy of drummer Mikael Wassholm — he has impressed throughout this disc. Don’t forget the catchy as hell chorus.

Unlock the Horror
This is a slower, monolithic monster of a track, full of tempo changes and huge riffs. It reminds me of some of the stuff that Bloodbath knock out of the park on occasion, but with a more raw sound and straightforward presentation.

Soul Eater
I could seriously get down to a single track simply filled with that opening series of riffs. I’d keep it running constantly throughout the day as a means to keep pumped up until it’s time to crash at the end of the day.

Devoured by Decay
The final track, “Devoured by Decay” starts off with some creative riffing before exploding with pummeling drums and speedy guitar work. This is one aggressive assed track full of gnashing teeth of the decaying undead as they descend upon your prone body. This track is one hell of a way to end an amazing disc. The lead at the 1:18 mark will sear the flesh off of your skull in no time.

~ ~ ~

Dead, Rotten and Hungry is one of those albums that simply cannot be ignored. It’s a throwback to a time in death metal when bands wrote campy lyrics and just played without the urge to be more technical than the next guy. This disc has enough groove oriented death metal to make up for all the super technical crap that’s popped up in recent years. It’s straight forward, hammer-to-the-face method of attack is refreshing and much needed. I highly recommend digging this one up.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
N/A