I told you all it wouldn’t be long before we reviewed something brutal and deadly! See how silly you looked, crying over us covering a happy go lucky Swedish AOR album? All joking aside, this here review comes at the recommendation of our good pal Aaren Pantke of Molder. Besides being a hell of a musical talent and a kickass friend, Aaren also has some impeccable musical taste, especially when it comes to death metal. It should come as no surprise, considering the caliber of material Molder has been dropping since their inception, but I digress.
Coming to you straight from the state of Samuel Adams and Aerosmith is Wormface. Essentially a side project of death metallers Anthropophagous, Wormface is a power trio hellbent on all things gory, grisly, and gross. In this regard, they’re not too dissimilar from their main vehicle, but hey, I’m not one to question creative motives. I just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, offering my armchair analysis while imploring you, the reader, to check out these albums and come to your own conclusion. And something tells me the death metal diehards amongst my reader-base will go absolutely wild for Wormface and their debut album, Gore Furnace, in all its putrid glory
Upon first listen, Gore Furnace draws heavily from Autopsy’s Severed Survival and Impetigo’s Horror of the Zombies, which hey, if you’re gonna “borrow” from anywhere, do so from the best. The riffs, vocals, and overall feel of the songs boast that gut-churning, repulsive attack that exemplifies death metal at its most primal. This is made apparent on the opening murky creepy crawl of “Bludgeoned by Baculum”, and expanded upon from there, brutalizing the listener with pus-ridden death-thrashers like “Predator Swamping” and “Black Magick Ape Slut” (How’s that for a title?). The guitars and bass acts as a two in one attack, while the drums pound away, laying down one midtempo melee after the next.
At times, Gore Furnace borders on Mental Funeral inspired death/doom, particularly on the eerie “Mocking the Breeders” and punishing closer that is “Misery Ritual”, the latter boasting a droning, repetitive riff pushing the listener to the brink of insanity. Yet what’s perhaps most intriguing about this release is not its mere bastardization of classic Autopsy tropes, but rather the individual musicianship of each member, especially during the groovier passages. This especially goes for drummer Steve Kamienski, who lays down John Bonham/Bill Ward-esque grooves and fills on cuts like “Heretical Usurpation” and “Savage Lout”. To hear such tasty, retro drumming on a death metal album is unique, to put it lightly, and a welcome departure in my book.
Short and anything but sweet, Wormface’s Gore Furnace is 25 minutes of death metal devastation, sounding straight out of the genre’s glory days with zero gloss or glamour to be found. The songs are catchy, the performances are memorable, and the album itself flows like blood from a sliced jugular. It’s back to the basics, without coming off as a soulless rehash of yesteryear. Call ’em Wormface. Call ’em Antropophagous. Just don’t call ’em weak, cuz that they are not!
7 out of 10
Label: Headsplit Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Autopsy, Impetigo, Molder
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