Embedded Files
NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS “You and Your Friends are Dead: Game Over” EP
NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS “You and Your Friends are Dead: Game Over” EP
SLUGCRUST “Discharged” EP
SLUGCRUST “Discharged” EP
By Dr. Abner Mality
OK, humanoids, time to throw a couple more EPs under the microscope and see if they can withstand the gaze of the Good Doctor…
SLUGCRUST are dirt-drenched grinders from South Carolina whose “Discharged” effort flies in and then leaves in about 10 minutes flat. In true grind fashion, they don’t hang around long. What a shame about the production, though...this thing has no bottom end at all. A filthy bass is what always gives true grindcore its punch, as Shane from NAPALM DEATH would surely attest, but this doesn’t have it. In fact, this has one of the most unpleasant guitar sounds I’ve heard recently, like a crowbar scraping on concrete. The actual riffs here are not bad at all, but there’s just no low end punch to them. And the drums run roughshod over everything, too. Maybe they were after something annoyingly different. Sorry, the sound kills this one. Maybe next time…
NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS come out of Chicago and thankfully they they didn’t forget the bass. This is classic thrash-based death metal of the old school, with lots of speed. The guitar is a little dry here, too, but not to such an extreme that it scuttles their sound. The songs are good, but maybe run just a tad too long, as on “My Bloody Valentine” and “Jason Lives”. What’s tired about these guys is their subject matter...the same old slasher movie stuff that’s been beaten to a pulp over the last 30 years or so. Horror metal needs some quirks or something a little different lyrically. I like the music NECRONOMICON EX MORTIS comes up with...it reminds of old Razorback Records stuff like ENGORGED and FRIGHTMARE...but the lyrical fodder is old hat.
SLUGCRUST needs N.E.M.’s producer and N.E.M. maybe needs the bite of SLUGCRUST’s lyrics. Thus forewarned, you may proceed with a modicum of caution…
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