In an age where death metal is constantly being fused with hardcore, black metal, prog, or some other outside element, it’s nice to hear some straightforward, no frills death metal once in a while. Bands like Shed the Skin and Cardiac Arrest immediately come to mind in this category, releasing one killer album after the next and consistently keeping true to the classic death metal sound. Another band who fits this description is Faithxtractor. Ironically enough, Faithxtractor is the brainchild of longtime Shed the Skin growler and guitarist, Ash Thomas. You might also recognize him from Estuary, Surgikill, and televangelist Bob Larson’s favorite band, Acheron.
It isn’t often that Faithxtractor bestows an album upon us. In fact, at the current rate of things, we get one about every 5 years. Taking that into consideration, their latest album, Contempt for a Failed Dimension, should really hit us where it hurts, leaving us writhing in glorious agony until the next eventual Faithxtractor album in 2028, right? Well surprise, or maybe not if you’ve been following them from the beginning; it does and then some. Not only that, but it does so in just a little under 30 minutes. In an age where most record labels have a 40 minute requirement for new music, or worse yet a “fill the CD” policy, it’s refreshing to know that Redefining Darkness are content with letting their roster create at their own pace.
Contempt wastes no time getting down to business. Forget your run of the mill horror synth or semi-acoustic intro. This record cuts right to the chase in true, classic death metal fashion with the diabolical “Vomiting Proclamation”, a bruiser of a track which riff-wise lies somewhere between Deicide and Entombed. The muscular, pulverizing “Life Abnegation” keeps the gut-wrenching going, as does the Covenant era Morbid Angel inspired “Relative First Occurrence” and the lumbering “Revenge Void Asphyx”.
For the remainder of Contempt, there isn’t much out of the ordinary. When Faithxtractor play fast, they do so with no remorse. When they play midtempo or slow, the result is equally brutal. “The Blood That Seethes” embodies this formula, with a healthy dosage of mosh sections for good measure. “On Every Breath…a Curse” is so slow and menacing that it almost qualifies as Mental Funeral era Autopsy death/doom, before kicking things up to a violent d-beat led blast. Closing it all out is a spot-on cover of an early Sepultura deep track, “Empire of the Damned”. Although this release lies closer stylistically to Beneath the Remains (1989) than Morbid Visions (1985), I can’t complain about a homage to Brazil’s finest.
Contempt for a Failed Dimension is anything but a failure. I may not have much faith in the growing crop of trendy “hardcore kids after listening to Entombed and Bolt Thrower once” death metal bands, but I do have faith that every 5 years, Faithxtractor will be sure to whoop our asses into shape with an all killer, no filler offering of unadulterated death. *sigh* I better stop with the puns before I find myself onstage at some sleazy nightclub in Vegas.
7 out of 10
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Shed the Skin, Deicide, Entombed