Artist: Digest!
Album [Demo]: Hard to Digest!
Genre: Death Metal
Country: Germany (Ulm)
Release date: 18th of May, 2020
Released via Unholy Prophecies
Cover Artwork © Unholy Prophecies
At some points it gets easily evident that we are still quite a young blog. One of these moments that reminded me of this fact was when – a few weeks ago – I came across something in my inbox I wasn’t able to identify right away. After having opened it, I found out that it actually was the first physical promo material we received at all with Hard to Digest. Hence, Death Metal combo Digest! made me really happy – oh boy – with finally holding a physical record in my hands in order to be reviewed – no-brainer to not let this demo slip away!
Digest! is a two-member Death Metal outfit hailing from my former home region in Southern Germany (Ulm). Consisting only of two members, we have B. who plays the lead guitar and Tommi who does the vocals, guitar, bass and drum-programming. If it does not feel as if Tommi is kind of able to do pretty much anything already, be aware of the fact that he also plays in a bunch of other regional Metal acts such as Rotten Pope [with guitars from Revel in Flesh], (German) Havok or Bitterness. There seems to be quite of a lot of experience coming along already when even only taking a look where he was able to contribute with vocals alone. Digest! was formed in 2020 and already delivered their first demo with Hard to Digest! in the same (miserable) year on the 12th of June – serving with a soundtrack for a fucked-up time.
This first demo comes along via Unholy Prophecies, a label that seemingly has been active for quite some time already but (shame on me!) I did not yet know. Taking a look into the discography it’s easy to spot that UP for example released that insane Khaos demo …Encircle Us… among a lot of other filthy Metal releases.
As the promo text says, this is a demo with Death Metal showing a nasty Crust and Punk edge – and this is also what to expect from the first track “Die With a Tube in the Head“. This track kicks in with a massive memorable groove showing a great respect for a Punk-driven Death Metal tune that is upheld throughout the entire track with push-to-the-front Drum parts especially during the slower sections. At these points it also is by no means hearable that we are talking about programmed drums that are speeding this thing up. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t be able to hear. Tommi’s vocals instantly downpress everything at the beginning of the track and they feel somewhat like a mixture of the force of Karl Willetts on War Master and the guttural impact of early Debauchery. What you get from this first track is an extremly catchy sound for a Death Metal track – I can’t tell when it was the last time I had an earworm from the chorus of a Death Metal track – yep it happened this time. Especially during this chorus, the strength of Digest! comes into the forefront, because the almost anthem-ish sound in combination with the fitting lead melodies constructs a track that will stick in your head for days.
These elements that were incredibly hearable on the first track of the demo are also the pro parts of the following tracks. Digest! is able to maintain this groove throughout an entire EP, although stepping into different areas once in a while. Next to the Punk attitiude that is quite present on this demo, the second track “Digest!” for example comes along with a Thrashy intro riff, leading into absolutely nasty barking double vocals and finishing everything up with yet another catchy chorus. On top of everything, we get a guitar solo that then almost feels like a part of a classy Heavy Metal track. After that, the speed is definitely accelerated on “Swollen Rotten Perception,” when the sound slightly dives into Grindcore drumming with that swell Punk vibe on high speed.
Coming along with this rumbling Death Metal that boldly conveys the Crust side of this genre, Digest! absolutely deliver with their first demo. Although some of the tracks slightly fall into the background next to “Die With a Tube in the Head” as an example, this still is absolutely solid when taking into consideration that we’re talking about a demo here. I’m absolutely eager to listen to some more stuff – as well as getting into the thousand other projects that are linked to this one. Go ahead and give your head a wild spin when tuning into this filthy Death Metal rotter.
★★★★★★★★☆☆
8 / 10
Favorite Track:
“Die With a Tube in the Head”
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