Fuck... I'm Dead/Engorged "split" CD
[No Escape]
Australia's Fuck... I'm Dead starts things off with eight tracks of their relentless drum machine driven gore grind, and I like this better than the material from their release on Razorback. From high speed tremolo picking to classic grindcore, to twisted death metal riffing and crushing breakdowns, they've got it all... with vocals that shift from guttural growls to midrange screams or high snarls. Among the high points would absolutely be the twisted dissonant chord progressions and smooth transitions between riffs and tempos in the unstoppable "Gore Ridden". The writing is a bit more technical and precise here than in the past, and that definitely works out nicely. They've also got a strong recording with nasty distorted bass, a solid guitar tone, a very suitable drum machine sound, and dense vocals. I don't have any major complaints at all. The bass tone is so fucking awesome, and it really adds to the density and texture of the mix a great deal. I'd definitely say that Fuck... I'm Dead is one of the best metal bands to have ever effectively used a drum machine. Engorged offers up five tracks of raw, diverse death metal with blistering distorted vocals and plenty of speed, but the recording is off so despite some strong moments, they fall flat compared to Fuck... I'm Dead's material. Shorter, slower songs like "Vomiting Butchers Redux" definitely make more of a point, especially with all of the vocal layering and the obscenely low vocal growls. And the sludgy southern riffing, leads, and half sung vocals of "Death Metal Attack 2000" are a damn fine addition to the band's bizarre palette, I must say. The Carcass-esque "Surgery Drugs Rock 'n' Roll", with its dense rhythms and sweet melodic solos is definitely their best track herein, however. The drums sound alright, but the vocals are mixed too loud (as are the samples), I generally can't make out any bass, and the guitars are just dirty. The mix isn't that clear either, which can also cause some problems. If there was more obvious low-end, the guitars were smoother, and the mix brighter, they could pull off the raw sound based on the strengths of their thrashy death metal riffing and a few memorable vocal patterns, but the sound definitely hurts their contribution to the split. The layout is very minimal, repeating an image of a hand grasping an eyeball with lots of reddish colors and layered digital types of textures in the background, and inside are some thanks lists, no lyrics or anything like that. Though I'm sure that song titles like "Anal Abattoir" and "Vomiting Butchers Redux" speak enough of that department. Engorged is cool, but honestly, this is worth it for Fuck... I'm Dead's 10 minutes alone. Engorged takes the majority of the disc with around 15 minutes of material, but I'm really enjoying the Fuck... I'm Dead tracks. (7/10)
Running time - 26:10, Tracks: 13
[Notable tracks: Ruthless Aggression, Flesh Feast, Gore Ridden, Coliteral Damage, Vomiting Butchers Redux, Surgery Drugs Rock 'n' Roll]
No Escape Records - http://www.noescaperecords.com

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