ALBUM REVIEW: II – Snorlax

Not afraid to engage with pretty much every sub-genre of extreme metal they can get a hold of, SNORLAX is a whirring machine of brutality. Despite having just one member, Brendan Auld, head of Black Blood Audio over in Brisbane, the band make it their mission to create a crushingly thick, beefy sound in everything they produce. Their latest offering, II, follows on from the 2018 demo, Splintering and continues to explore the visceral, gut-busting heaviness they introduced two years ago.

With only six tracks spread across 22-minutes, II has no time to mess around. As such, the blistering black metal opening of Infernal Devourment throws you in at the deep end. That first shriek sounds like we’re going down the route of EMPEROR, but when the vocals enter fully, it’s more like Corpsegrinder has shown up late to the party. This feeling continues into track two, The Resin Tomb, which kicks off with a sledgehammer-like opening which wouldn’t be out of place on Tomb Of The Mutilated.

From The Chaos Ov Iron Oppression and onwards, it becomes fully clear that SNORLAX isn’t messing about. The track lengths more than double and the maturity of songwriting shifts into a new realm. The Chaos Ov Iron Oppression is built on alternations between four, thudding downstrokes, and soaring guitar lines that create a strange air of grandeur you’d be hard pushed to find in music this heavy. The grindcore influences are clear; perhaps the way CATTLE DECAPITATION has been pushing the genre forward has started to rub off onto SNORLAX? The vocals seem to be genuinely trying to appear catchy and purposeful, rather than randomly and aggressive.

Mind Of Maggots is the longest tune on II by far and, while it might be better placed as the closer, delivers the highlight of the album through its detailed structure, rhythmic ambition and stellar vocal dexterity throughout. It’s the opening couple of minutes, however, that fare best, delivering a feedback-led atmosphere that (to me, at least) seems to be an auditory depiction of the grim, hopeless scene depicted on the album cover.

The final two tracks both employ the frantic heaviness of grindcore and the atmospheric emptiness of black metal to produce two true masterworks of brutality. Encapsulated Apocalypse hides some weirdly catchy riffs within its gritty textures, while Impending Abysmal Wretchedness (once more channelling CANNIBAL CORPSE for the track’s title) is centred on some raw, forceful blast beats that bring the album to a satisfying conclusion.

While it might be hard to craft a truly unique piece of extreme metal in a scene already littered with the music of every possible avenue, SNORLAX really has crafted something impressive here.

Rating: 8/10

II is set for release on January 10th via Brilliant Emperor Records.

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