“…a seething mass of chaos, of endless gaping maws, slathering tongues and thrashing limbs, chattering teeth and sibilant whispers of lunacy and obscenity. There is no silence, there is no peace, there is no sense or order. With all laws of structure and reason obliterated and swirling like dust in the ever-moving eddies that spin across the oceans of blood and tears, all is undone, all is lost… Dragged beneath the surface we drink deep of madness and find our only salvation, our only solace in absurdity…”. When a band decides to call themselves Brutalism it is a safe bet they are not going to sound like The Osmonds, and this quintet from Boise, Idaho are doing their level best to live up to their name with a brutal death metal debut.

I am not sure why, but as I have got older I listen more and more to metal which I would have probably passed by in my younger days, and every week I can be found relaxing to the likes of Napalm Death, Agoraphobic Nosebleed or Pig Destroyer, so when I come across an album like this I tend to sit up and pay close attention. One of the things I really like about this is that while they tend to be BDM for the most part, they are also highly technical and bassist Ian Dodd has a key role to play in this as there are times when he comes right to the front to provide unexpected notes and styles, which allows the bombast of guitarists Jason Taylor and London Howell to be even more in your face when it returns. They are both shredders of some note, and are more than happy to be moving at speed up and down the neck, while at others they keep it riff happy and at the bottom end of the scale. Dante Haas is a powering presence at the back, although I do wish the snare was not quite as in your face as it is in much of this, while at the front we have Cameron Bass who is obviously a fan of Lee Dorian. There is a lot to enjoy on this debut, and if you are into bands like Morbid Angel, Immolation, Defeated Sanity or Suffocation you will get a lot from this as this is quite a step up from many bands within the genre, and is a band to certainly keep an eye on.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/BrutalismBand
https://www.comatosemusic.com/