CARDIAC ARREST
CARDIAC ARREST “The Stench of Eternity”
By Theron Moore
Long running Chicago death metal machine, CARDIAC ARREST, released their new record, ‘The Stench Of Eternity,’ May 17 via Hells Headbangers. It’s a hit, let’s not beat around the bush about that. What a great year this has been for metal with new releases by ATROPHY, HELLBUTCHER, and now CARDIAC ARREST. Fuck you ,Gene Simmons, metal is alive and well and CARDIAC ARREST is leading that charge!
Just to bring you up to speed here, the band formed in 1997 and their work often centers around horror inspired death metal. I caught them live last year at Blades Of Steel metal fest and they were killer. If you think they sound great on disc, catch them live, they'll blow your mind as to how epic they are.
“The 'Stench Of Eternity” is ten tracks of sadistic, face melting, death metal. Overall, the album is unrelenting and punishing. Many of the songs have intros or outro movie clips adding yet another dimension of terror to them. I dig the music, it’s rock-solid death metal with tight pockets of punk inspired thrash thrown in. Whether that was intended or not, it works.
The songs are well thought out, and written, and thank god there's no cut and paste going on here which I wouldn't expect from the CARDIACguys anyway. The originality of the compositions is refreshing not to mention goddamn brutal. This isn’t standard death metal, it’s a torture test to see who’s last man standing.
The first three tracks are the right way to start out a record. Track three, “Beg, Plead, Crawl” is pure vicious hate with some truly insane music showcasing just how good these guys are at writing and composing. Some of the breakdowns and bass lines in this song are crazy good verging on inhuman.
“Bullets Are The Only Cure,” lays down a rhythmic beat down that could make MALEVOLENT CREATION weep at how brutal it is. There’s a good interplay of classic death metal with a slight injection of thrashy grind that takes the song to a brand-new level of teeth bashing superiority.
What more can I say? ‘The Stench Of Eternity’ is pretty damn close to perfection, it’s a masterpiece deserving of every accolade it receives. There’s not a bad track on this album and it deserves a slot on every critic’s end of year list. I know it’ll make mine, for sure. Buy this monster, its pure glory, pure steel, and the best thing CARDIAC ARREST has recorded to date.