USURPRESS/BENT SEA - Split
March 3, 2014, 10 years ago
(Selfmadegod)
Great split here, showing two diverse sides of extreme metal. Sweden's USURPRESS (not to be confused with GALLHAMMER... anyone else do that?) play sludgey death with big CELTIC FROST overtones. Heck, let's go HELLHAMMER even, in the raw approach and craggly, anything-goes-but-happiness atmosphere. Their three tunes here go low and slow and fast and hard, all the while evoking the spirit of Tom G. Warrior and all those who fell before him over the years into the pits of sludge, doom, and crusted-over death. Bent Sea have a weird name and an all-star lineup, consisting of Sven de Caluwé of Aborted on vocals, Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, ex-Aborted, a million other bands) on drums, and Shane Embury (you know the one) on bass. Not bad at all, and while their take on grindcore plays it straight, tunes like 'See-through' offer up some left-field riffing and structure. The production threatens to be too polished in a MUMAKIL kind of way, but it works in the end, everything coming through crystal clear with tons of power. A crustier production would also work great with these guys, as they alternate between blasting grindcore and d-beat-tempo grind that borders on crust, with some death metal and gore-grind overtones even coming in as well, no doubt the end result of the time spent in all the different bands the dudes have been in.
