Dawn of the tech death
Boring into listener's skulls with surgical precision, few bands manage to ever live up to their names as well as Brain Drill does on their debut full length, Apocalyptic Feasting. The quartet's mind-bogglingly technical approach to death metal might not be entirely unprecedented, but rarely is it done with this much raw ferocity and unbridled ambition.
Intense doesn't even begin to describe the music found on Apocalyptic Feasting, as Brain Drill go immediately for the jugular and rarely let up for the album's duration. The sound on display is the death metal equivalent of a freak show contortionist, constantly changing shape and folding in on itself in the most baffling ways. Human beings weren't meant to play musical instruments in this manner, but somehow the members of Brain Drill bash out blood 'n' guts strewn songs that seem to alter space and time, like cosmic keys to an alternate dimension filled with hordes of flesh eating zombies. In spite of the exacting assault, there is also a brusque savagery to Brain Drill's music that echoes the simplistic, grisly nature of the lyrics to songs such as "Consumed by the Dead" and "Bury the Living".
But Apocalyptic Feasting isn't all cranium crushing complexity. There are moments scattered throughout this calamitous cluster-bomb of an album where the band reigns in its overwhelming musical salvo long enough to lock into some groove-laden blunt force trauma and even a few catchy vocal refrains. It is in the nature of this style of death metal to lack memorability, but Brain Drill sidestep this pitfall by providing moments for the listener to latch onto in almost every song.
Although the album as a whole sounds great, the only gripe to be found on Apocalyptic Feasting lies with the production of Seth Rathjen's vocals. Although Rathjen puts in a varied and brutal performance, there are points where his voice sounds processed, particularly when he's growling in the higher registers. But overall this is a minor flaw and does little to detract from the quality of the recording, which manages to strike a top-notch equilibrium between grit and gloss.
Delivering ten tracks of meticulously crafted and absurdly technical death metal violence in just over half an hour, Brain Drill have unleashed an album that'll have fans of Willowtip and Unique Leader Records respective rosters dropping their collective jaws over the sheer brutality and masterful musicianship on display throughout.
| Reviewer: Josh Haun Added: February 6th 2008 |
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