Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Gorematory - Zombie Slaughterfest



Gorematory – Zombie Slaughterfest

Here’s a recipe for you budding chefs out there, it’s called BrÜtal Stew. Throw in one part old school sounding death metal, a hint of thrash, add a dash of zombie inspired lyrics, and bake in a sweaty studio for a month and out comes a fresh batch of BrÜtal Stew. Many bands use this recipe over and over and very few of them create something groundbreaking.  Newer bands today have been listening to Cannibal Corpse, Dismember, Dark Angel, and Kreator for most of their musical lives and have taken parts of all of them and molded it into something very familiar. Familiar isn’t always bad, some bands turn it into something fresh and innovative, some bands make it sound stale and outdated, and others just pay homage to the originators and simply play some good old fashioned death metal. A newer band that definitely falls into the latter category is Gorematory from New Jersey. Their debut full length was released this year and is a solid helping of old school sounding modern death metal.  When listening to the album, one could be forgiven for thinking it came from Florida in 1993. Leading off the album is “Medical Execution,” a straight-forward death metal song suitable to start off a record. A driving rhythm kicks off the song and keeps it moving throughout until a headbangable breakdown creeps forward about 1:15 in.The song then transitions into that same driving rhythm until an extended instrumental kicks in and almost finishes the song where growls of “Execution! Execution!” are screamed over the original rhythm. The song sets the tone for the rest of the album as it continues on in much of the same fashion. Tracks like “Sadistic Slaughter” and “Mass Dismemberment” are particular highlights for this author, they drive with the same speedy rhythm followed by slow breakdown parts that make you bash your head against the stage. They have those archetypical death metal riffs with the ferocity of thrash mixed in for just the right amount of variety to not make it flat. However one track, “Crushed and Splattered,” does not do this very well, it becomes too repetitive and loses the attention of the audience. It starts off with a great slow groove but the song quickly becomes just the name of the song sung over and over and over again. Even with that low point, the overall sound of the album is great. It is not something innovative but for those of us that want a solid death metal groove, this is definitely a solid album. I look forward to hearing more from this band as they continue to grow their sound. They are not quite to the level of blowing up but there is potential behind these guys for the future.



No comments: