ALBUM REVIEW: Seething Malevolence – Vomit Forth
The new wave of death metal is showing no signs of slowing down with a bountiful crop of bands both showcasing homage to the stylistic approach of decades gone while injecting fresh bouts of urgency to a genre that was losing itself in its myriad sub-genres. Intending to follow in the footsteps of compatriots TOMB MOLD, GATECREEPER and CREEPING DEATH comes Connecticut quartet VOMIT FORTH. Spewing forth their debut full-length outing, Seething Malevolence, does this release offer enough to trade blows with the heavy hitters of the scene?
Fans of the aforementioned bands will find a lot to love with Seething Malevolence. This is a pungent and, quite honestly, disgusting bout of bludgeoning death metal. Vocalist Kane Gelaznik resembles a demon spawned from the depths of hell itself with a frightening level of aggression as he delivers guttural snarls and lows that fit perfectly to the brutal death metal template. He commands the frontline on the slamming Eucharist Intact whilst Pain Tolerance‘s sporadic blasts of pig squeal-esque deliveries are a welcome splash of nostalgia to the first wave of deathcore in the early 2000s.
Elsewhere, the rest of the band deliver. Guitarist Ricky Brayall drops riffs that slam and pack a mighty punch aplomb, with the guitar-work on Unrecognizable twisting and turning at every opportunity, whereas bassist Tyler Bidwell keeps the tone utterly dense and drummer Nick Herrmann beats his kit to within an inch of its life. Relentless doesn’t even begin to cover it. Take Tortured Sacrament for example. A beast of a track, VOMIT FORTH never allow the intensity to dip as a maelstrom of drums, slams and wailing riffs swirl around Gelaznik‘s monstrous vocals. It’s moments like these that showcase just how much potential VOMIT FORTH have within their repertoire.
For all that Seething Malevolence does right, and it does showcase an awful lot of quality across its compact runtime, it does suffer from slight bluntness in its closing stages. Such is the nature of this music whereby an entire record relies on musical extremity, it’s expected that by the closing stages the listener is beginning to experience creeping feelings of weariness. And that’s not to say that the closing material is sub-par, far from it in fact, as the one-two punch of Predatory Savior and Pious Killing Floor is just as brutal as the album’s earlier barrages, it’s just by this point, you’ve experienced nearly 30 minutes of sustained aural bombardment. Whilst the album format is certainly something that is championed within our circles, where VOMIT FORTH truly make their best impact is in short blasts of their material and dipping in and out is where the band can truly establish a firm connection.
Seething Malevolence won’t reinvent the death metal rulebook but that was never VOMIT FORTH‘s intention. What this debut showcases is a band that know the style inside out and they play to its bludgeoning strengths. Whilst there are niggling issues of rinse and repeat in the latter stages of its runtime, there is more than enough potential on offer here to warrant your attention. The new wave of death metal has yet another new addition to its ranks.
Rating: 7/10
Seething Malevolence is out now via Century Media Records.
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