VOMITHEIST
VOMITHEIST “NekroFvneral”
By Dr. Abner Mality
This maggot-infested slab of putrid plastic is as pure as a Beatles pop song or a soaring operatic aria in its own hideous way. It embodies the classic Swedish HM-2 death metal sound with absolute fidelity and clarity. These 3 Swiss maniacs have not only recreated that chainsaw guitar sound...which is fairly easy to do, frankly...but also the insanely catchy yet brutal riffs that typify the subgenre. The mix of chunky grooving riffs with absolute blasting mayhem is spot on. There are a lot of bands trying to ape the classic Swe-death style, but VOMITHEIST understand exactly what makes that style so potent and they use that understanding to create this raging monster of an album.
Keep it simple, stupid! That motto is probably tattooed on the foreheads of these guys as a reminder. They keep to that motto and that’s what makes agonizing gut-busters like the aptly named “Strangled By Entrails”, “Horrific Bloodshed” and “Symbolic Putrefaction” work. They let the chainsaw guitar sound sink in deep by using elemental riffs that are almost pure tones. Then they put a groove and thrust to that killer sound. They are not big on lead solos, that’s for sure, but I didn’t miss those at all here. Every tune has a stomping raw riff that bites deep.
There are a couple of odd diversions. “Chapel of Abhorrent Reek and Festering Slime”...a perfect Swedish death song title if ever there was one...winds up being a creepy synth instrumental to break things up. The title track is short and almost d-beat punk, while VOMITHEIST takes a big chance by ending the album with a 12 minute plus epic, “Carnivorous Cult”. This one is not bad at all, but in my opinion, the only band that should really be doing HM-2 songs of this length is EDGE OF SANITY. It should not be a regular part of their repertoire.
This is one case when I can absolutely say, to hell with originality. Who needs it when you skulls gets grinded to atoms by the likes of VOMITHEIST? This is the real deal when it comes to pure chainsaw Swedish death…