EP REVIEW: The Deep End Of Horror – Putrified J

EP’s, at their core, are fantastic little tasting pallets for people to get a good feel for what a band can offer, or even where they might be going if creative changes are afoot. Well, with PUTRIFIED J, it serves as an opportunity for the two-piece to get listeners alone and pummel them to death. The Deep End Of Horror is an apt title for this release, because over six songs PUTRIFIED J deliver some of the most disgusting and punishing brutal death metal anyone will ever hear this year. 

With such a saturated genre, standing out amongst the other blood-soaked maniacs of the scene can be difficult. With the opening title track offering nothing but 2 minutes of pulverising percussion, boosted by buzzsaw riffs, underneath a putrid display of guttural vocals from mastermind Jason Lambert, it quite literally takes the listener and drags them deep beneath the surface of ‘accessibility’, and well into the violent chasms of hell. For anyone who might’ve been taken a back by the quality of the RENDERED HELPLESS album earlier this year, The Deep End Of Horror will build off that love, and further cement the notion that two piece death metal bands seem to be a bit of a winning formula at the moment. 

The frantic opening of Sickening Decapitation shows that the PUTRIFIED J are more than capable of writing lead guitar lines, and even quite technical ones, but just choose not too. Instead, the glistening lead guitar sections serve as second long respites before the hammer is brought firmly, and mercilessly, down onto your skull towards the end of the song. By the time the caveman-heavy opening of Relentless kicks in, the exceptional pacing of the EP becomes clear. The slam sections drag but don’t stumble, and when the speed comes in, it feels akin to postmortem body spasms: unpredictable and utterly uncontrollable. 

Benefited further by a great production sound meaning that everything on The Deep End Of Horror is clearly audible, but comes together to create a hulking behemoth of a mix. When combined with the intensity and pacing, and PUTRIFIED J find themselves as the creators of one of the most murderous and brilliant EPs of the year. Fair warning, given the sheer terrifying peaks that this EP reaches it is not for the casual listener, but for the musical adrenaline junkie, there really isn’t any other need to look elsewhere. The worst thing is that when fully enveloped, The Deep End Of Horror disappears as quickly as it arrives, but with this level of intensity, it might be a good thing. 

Rating: 9/10

The Deep End Of Horror is out now via Comatose Music. 

Like PUTRIFIED J on Facebook.