Afterbirth - 2014 Demo

Damn it, this is some really brutal shit here. And at last they are back. Afterbirth, for those who don't know, is a technical brutal death metal band from the US, reigning since 1993, but besides their abilities as a band, bad luck led the band to ice for a long period. Two demos of 1993 and 1993 and then a long period of ice till 2013 when they decided to break radio silence and release a compilation of everything they had so far. This here is their demo for 2014.

4 new tracks for the hungry death metal listener. Their wrath is even bigger this time and that, combined to the experience they now have as musicians, can only lead to assumptions promising destruction and demise. And indeed, it is as such. From the first time the play button was pushed on this demo, what came out of my speakers was well played brutal death metal, technical and precise, with some of the most atrocious gutturals out there, and with a really cautious production. Cautious to be muddy as it should be, but on the same time giving every instrument its space and making the outcome distinct and heavy.

Of course in order to do this you have to have really good material to work with, and really good performance from the musicians. These two needs are met, cos when we're talking Afterbirth, we're talking about a band that played technical brutal death metal in times when such term did not exist. Razor sharp riffs that bring a lot technicality combined with brutality, giving plenty of space to the drums to unfold their ferocity in many ways. Mostly blasting the shit out of everything but also blending it with more technical playing when necessary. The bass guitar is a whole other chapter here. First of all the sound is distinct and it couldn't be done differently cos the bass here is not following the guitars as most of the death metal bassists do. It carves its own path to this atrocity, and somehow its ways meet with the rest of the instruments adding a lot of diversity to the whole outcome. The vocals are simply out of this world. Some of the wildest gutturals I've heard are in this demo. Following a perfect flow  emphasizing to the riffs and adding the proper groove to each song. Of course this technicality in all aspects of Afterbirth's music is used wisely and is controlled.

So what we got here are songs that reek of technical moments but never forget to groove, giving each song the proper air needed to breath so it won't get boring.. Hope I can get their upcoming full length quickly cos the 4 songs this demo contains are too few. Waaaay too few..

  1. Cirque Sombre Noir
  2. Vomit On Humanity
  3. Spiritually Transmitted Disease
  4. Maggots In Her Smile

Self released
Reviewer: twansibon
Dec 2, 2014
Next review: Diphteria - Diphteria

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