I've always assumed that as I
got older I would probably mellow out.Not that I have been some crazy, rowdy guy ever anyway, but just that
age smooths you out.Musically, however,
that has not been the case.I find
myself listening to and liking some really brutal music, and enjoying it more
the older I get. Go figure.
I could certainly use this album
as exhibit A to prove my point.It's
been 3 long years between albums for Never To Arise, but holy shit did
these guys put that time to good use.This is some brutal, hellish, pulverizing technical death metal.Feel free to use that as a new sub-genre of
metal.Right now there would be exactly
one band in that genre.These guys do
their thing so well.To my ears, it's a
mix of classic old school Floridian death with the newer technical stuff, and I
don't hear a lot of bands doing anything like that.I don't hear any bands doing it as well as
this band.
What does it sound like?Imagine having your testicles clamped in a
vice, while your feet are in a bucket of water with a car battery hooked up to
your nipples, and someone is whipping you across the back with a garden hose,
while yet another person pulls your teeth out as slowly as possible.It sounds like that would feel.It sounds awesome.
And the song titles.How can you go wrong with “A Most Unwilling
Organ Donor”, “Butcher Knife Birth Control”, “Fornicating In The Blood Of The
Mutilated”, “Open Heart Punching Bag”, and “To Cum Is To Die”? That's only half of the tracks.Again, they sound just as brutal as those
song titles would lead you to believe.This isn't just some gimmick though.These are well-written songs with all kinds of intricacy.I've listened to this several times already
and I hear something new each time.Two
huge thumbs up to Gordon Denhart and Michael Kilborn for putting all of this
together.Yeah, I know they record a
bunch of tracks and put them together.Listen to this album though and try to count how many different guitar
tracks you hear, and realize that each one is different.Someone has to write those tracks and play
them to perfection.Hats off to these
badasses for pulling that off.
There is a LOT
of death metal out there.Recording
technology has become so affordable and thus ubiquitous that anyone who wants
to can put some music out there.Most of
it is just generic stuff that you've heard a thousand times before.In my mind, when you hear something like
this, something that is truly unique and truly stands out from the masses, it
needs to be celebrated.We need to share
it with others and spread the word.We
need to shout it from the mountain tops.Jump on this one, people, and revel in the brutality.Give your brain something to enjoy.Play it really loud and piss off the people
who just don't understand.Let's get
behind Never To Arise and make them known to the world.I may be getting older but I guess my ears
refuse to mellow.
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