Reviews: Last Ten Seconds Of Life, Desecrate The Faith, Zëlot, Whirlwind (Reviews By Zak Skane, GC, Ben Baljak & Rick Eaglestone)

The Last Ten Seconds Of Life – Disquisition On An Execution (Unique Leader Records) [Zak Skane]

The Pennsylvania bruisers have returned, with not even a year since the release of their self titled album the have band come back to treat us with a four track pulverising E.P. 

With full force the opening Annihilation Phenomena starts up with chilling suspense from the greeted stab or should I sat punch chords on delivered from their baritone strung guitars accompanied with ambient clean guitar parts. The varying kick patterns builds up the intensity to lead us to our first doom-laden verse. Just like all of his previous efforts the vocalist still keeps the bar high by displaying the intensity in every word he spits out. 

With the biblical and philosophical themes in the lyrics and the crushing breakdown the makes a triumphant start to this four track effort. The many sub genres of Dreams Of Extermination swoons opens with some operatic swells before the listener get assaulted with machine gun bursts of gravity blasts and tremolo picked riffs. The groove laden guitar riffs locked in with 8th note kick patterns add some classic Pantera and southern metal vibes whilst adding some old school grindcore elements with their thunderous gravity blasts as well combining some symphonic elements with hardcore beatdowns. 

Liberation puts their hardcore grooves in the centre of the mix whilst the vocalist barks out classic death metal themed lyrics with nu metal flavour whilst tribal percussive sections are thrown in to add some extra spice. Finally Master opens up with some classic death metal aggression with low tuned tremolo riffs accompanied with grinding blast beats before the sombre angelic break provides us remorse before the brutality continues to a faded halt. 

Even though the band have abandoned the full length approach they still know how to capture their intensity in a short period of time. From embracing their classic formula on the opener Annihilation Phenomena threw to the shear brutality of Master, the band have still managed to push the boundaries of their sound by incorporating symphonic elements in Dreams Of Extermination and incorporating Sepultura inspired percussion in Liberation. Another flawless listen, shame that it didn’t last long enough 8/10.

It’s been a while since I did a review, so obviously to break myself back in nice and easily I have chosen some ‘’brutal death metal’’ from Desecrate The Faith and their new album III, so without further ado, hear we fucking go!! You know exactly what you are going to get from this type of music, blast beats, low and filthy vocals, and barbaric guitars and that is exactly what we get.

First track Idle Creature is a bit vocal heavy and sometimes they drown out the music which is frustrating as obviously the vocals have zero budge room and never change so you kind of just loose the first song, Blood Scriptures on the other hand balances everything out nicely and you can hear the savagery behind the vocals its all very well done and y’know ‘’brutal’’ but is it enough to keep the interest for a full album? Not so sure? Its more of the same on Wretched Feast which could probably pass as a decent Cannibal Corpse tribute if you didn’t know better. 

Then Sadistic Euphoria erupts into forth and is probably the most insistent track so far and the guitar work really shines through and credit where its due, this drummer is a fucking beast, there is absolutely no let up from him and he deserves all the credit in the world for keeping this relentless pace, just wish there was some wriggle room in the vocal area as its all just so one paced and holds some of the music back from really impressing at the half way point and Slaughtered Clergy slows the pace down slightly and has a nice chug filled riff that powers the song along before it all explodes into similar territory again and continues the relentless barrage, which is all starting to get a bit samey now if I am honest but there is a nice slow almost sludgy mid-section that drops into an blackened death part which finally shines a bit of much needed variation and contrast into the whole picture!!

Butchered Earth has another slow and stalking riff to being with that then goes into and big chug filled delight of a track before once again entering the savage territory we have heard so much already but it manages to mix up the styles so its not just all the same all the time and halfway through drop in a great section the is full of violence and groove in equal measure, this is easily the best song on the album so far and you even get to hear that they have a bass player for a bit! 

Mutilation is another song of monstrous proportions that comes along at an almost grindcore like pace and ups the brutallity to a new level and stops this album all being one pace and dare I say it a bit boring so far, the last 2 track have been sorely needed! Then we get Vile Of Legion, which is straight back to where we were before, and it feels like it’s been forced rather than enjoyed, like we mixed it up a bit now you must pay for that by getting the same style of song as before! The Dead Testament & Omnes Ardeat both offer up solid and predictable brutality but by this point I have had enough of it all and I am kind of glad it’s all over

With III, Desecrate The Faith have tried their best to go above and beyond and out ‘’brutal’’ everyone else, in a way they have done a good job as the music is unrelenting and as heavy a concrete rhino BUT, it just sounds exactly like most albums in the brutal death metal genre. I mean it’s all there, the savagery and violence with a fuck the world attitude, and it’s delivered with disgusting intent but its all just too predictable and samey and is hardly likely to give the foundations of death metal a shake. 6/10

Zëlot - Supplices (Chien Noir) [Ben Baljak]