Rex Shachath, Sepulchral Torment

Hailing from Northern Ireland, death metallers Rex Shachath (spawned from the band Overoath) delivers a solid EP in the form of Sepulchral Torment. The six tracks here — well, one 30 second intro and five songs — may not be anything new under the blackened son, but these guys deliver some decent U.S. style death metal with an old school flavor.

Once you get past the intro, the title track delivers a galloping rhythm and driving guitars that are then followed by raspy, guttural growls. The song is pretty straightforward in it’s overall sensibilities and it’s delivered quite capably. Solid, yet familiar riffs dominate while the likes of Grave and even Slayer make an appearance as guitar leads dive bomb and sear flesh. The rumble of “Follow the Bastard Prophet” will leave it’s mark firmly implanted on the side of your skull as Rex Shachath chug along with reckless abandon. It’s a violent track that has a great vocal pattern and catchy, head banging rhythm.

Layered guitars and a hellish, gurgling scream greet you as “Blind from Birth” gets down to a brutal start. The vocals for the most part have a more guttural feel on this song than the previous two. Slithering guitars weave in and out of crashing symbols and driving riffs. It’s probably the most dynamic track on the album. “Seven Serpents” gets things rolling with a welcome helping of marshal drum work and decent riff work. Slightly slower in overall pace, this is a dark song with a bit of a blackened edge. “Statues of Death” wraps up the EP nicely with a solid series of technical-minded riffs and pile-driving drums. I’m not, however, a fan of the faint echo on the vocals. Where the hell did that come from?

All in all, Sepulchral Torment is a nice introduction to this band. Their brand of blackened, thrashing death metal is, for the most part, fairly standard, but they play it quite well and never really truly ape any one band. They aren’t shy about wearing their influences on their sleeves and there isn’t anything wrong with that as long as you can play it well. And that they do. It’s not essential, but still a solid EP to check out.