Beneath the Massacre, Marée Noire
The last I had heard from Canada’s technical death metal wizards Beneath the Massacre it was right before they turned my brain to a gloppy mess with Dystopia. That was two years ago. My brain noodle has just finally gotten back to some semblance of it’s former self and these dudes come along with this five track EP that’s sure to leave me in fits and seizures yet again.
Marée Noire takes everything the band displayed in their sophomore effort and amplifies it ten fold. The deep guttural vocals are more destructive and more pissed, spewing the band’s opinion on the gulf region oil spill and society in general. The bludgeoning rhythms and massive riffs that were just starting to take hold in Dystopia are in full force here, going that much more in every extreme as they possibly can. And Beneath the Massacre just wouldn’t be themselves without some serious guitar shredding, finger gymnastics and staggered blasts — this short disc has it all.
The Casket You Sleep In
The EP opens up with a bit of warbling guitar noise (that also closes it out) before deep guttural growls and blasting drums explode out of your speakers. For the next three minutes or so, you’ll be bombarded with unrelenting blasts, impressive guitar noodling that will leave your spine in shambles and an aggressive vocal delivery. For as technical as these guys get with their instrumentation, there’s still a great flow exhibited throughout the EP — especially during the next track.
Black Tide
“Black Tide” keeps the technical brutality steamrolling, but also introduces (dare I say) a bit of groove to the whole ear-rupturing affair. The track starts out a little chaotic as the guys throw everything they have at your skull as quickly as they can, but the song eventually settles down a bit and with the help of the vocal patterns gives you an opportunity to head bang maniacally for a good bit without feeling lost. I love the bass work that peaks out here and there throughout the song, as well.
Drill Baby Drill
This 42 second instrumental is full of guitar wizardry, pummeling drums and a healthy dose of industrial noise in the form of static and sound bytes that have been stretched and distorted.
Designed To Strangle
After that all-too-brief respite the guys unload another tech-laiden death metal charge explosion on your skull. This track is an unrelenting beast of a song, leaning more on sheer brutality in some parts more so than the technical aspect of the band’s repertoire. The slow down around the 1:30 mark is impressive, as is the sick lead work that follow shortly after. Damn. My head hurts. In a good way.
Anomic
The same infernal noise that started off the EP gets this next track off to a quick, rapid-fire start with blasting drums and driving riff work. It’s a good thing this is a short disc, I’m not sure how much more I or my meager little dinosaur brain can handle. Holy crap, that was one hell of a disc. I don’t care how short it was, that was damn impressive.
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Additional Notes:
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