BACTERIAL HUSK
BACTERIAL HUSK "Anthropogenic Ruin"
By Dr. Abner Mality
This record arrived with no hype or buzz on it other than the press release. Well, it deserves both. This is quite an engaging and surprising bit of death metal. It's on the technical side, but not in the modern overdone sense. Instead, BACTERIAL HUSK reminds me of the late 80's period when thrash and death metal were intertwined and death metal was in its nascent state.
"Anthropogenic Ruin" is just bursting with odd quirks in the songwriting that keep your interest up all the way. Lots of cool shifts in riff and tempo. For example, the opening track "Spores of Hallucinosis" starts with some totally morbid old school DM riffs before segueing into something super choppy and angular. It's like DEATH running full bore into PESTILENCE, but with a slightly more modern feel. "Plague Pollination" mixes GORGUTS style dissonance with thrash and some tasteful leads. Pretty much every song has a feel of exploration to it and of trying to keep things fresh while maintaining extremity.
Some parts work better than others but every tune has at least one spot that will take you by surprise and make you smile, especially if you are well versed in the classics of death metal. The band has members of RAZORMAZE and SCATTERED REMNANTS but doesn't particularly sound like either of those. The vocals are high/low grunts and screams and the production also recalls the glory days...dry but natural sounding.
Very interesting band here. A bit of a sleeper, actually.