Artist: Unurnment
Album: Self-Immolation Suite
Genre: Death Metal
Country: USA
Release Date: 4th of September, 2020
Released via: Maggot Stomp
Cover Artwork © Maggot Stomp
With Unurnment I stumbled upon a band that was completely unknown to me until then, but which literally attracted me because of its killer artwork. After a short listen to the current EP Self-Immolation Suite, which was recently released via MAGGOT STOMP, it was already clear to me – this is musically what you can expect from the monstrous cover picture. The Death Metal that the US band presents to us is mercilessly hard, bestial and angry and as it seems, there is no escape from this hellmouth, as soon as you have looked too far into it, no matter how hard you try to escape from this trap.
Since I didn’t know about Unurnment yet I did some research to find out more about this band. I quickly found out that this band from California is the solo project of Primal Rite guitarist Fred Avila, who is the only mastermind here and plays all instruments himself. After the Spiritual Penury Demo released last year, this EP is only the second output of the combo, although the quality of the songwriting suggests that a few more releases have been dropped here. However, since Unrunment is the third band, besides Primal Rite and Abysmalist, in which Fred is active, one can explain the origin of the excellent sound a bit.
As soon as you get over the flame-like, crackling intro, you get a pure Death Metal beat up, where absolutely no prisoners are taken and you are hammered mercilessly. From heavy riffing, over squeaky, metal melodic insertions, up to unforgiving blasts, this EP fulfills every wish that a genre fan could have for this record. Although there are almost no breaks and the tempo changes are rare, Unurnment deliver those that exist, with inimitable hardness and even the rare stomp parts know how to convince and appear more brutal thanks to their precise timing. Beside the classic oldschool death elements you can also find some modern elements of the genre, like samples or short atmospheric parts. The most positive thing I noticed is the distinctive sounding bass, which can always come to the spotlight and can be heard in the beginning of the second song “Spiritual Penury” with a wonderful, mosh-inviting bassline, which you can’t listen to often enough and to which you don’t just want to throw chairs around.
The vocals, on the other hand, are really nasty and sound like they shit in pants, but they don’t offer any real surprises and are a bit unspectacular in the long run. They could also come 1 to 1 from the beast of the artwork. All in all, Self-Immolation Suite is very powerful and can also develop decently due to excellent production.
Since 4th of September the Self-Immolation Suite EP is available via MAGGOT STOMP digitally, where the violent sound also fits in perfectly, even sounds quite versatile for other roster relations and is not quite as sticking to Caveman Metal as many other bands of the label. The vinyl version is scheduled for release in October, but a punctual release date depends on the current Covid19 situation and could easily be endangered. But no matter how long you have to wait for the physical version, the purchase is worth it in my opinion and should definitely be noticed by die-hard death metal fans.
Unurnment sounds relatively varied on Self-Immolation Suite without really deviating from the dirty, dull paths of death metal. On album length I could add some more breaks and tempo changes to get the maximum out of the sound. Also the vocals could ignite a bit more. For the short band vita, however, this EP is a strong, but short-lived release, which is a lot of fun.
Hopefully a live line-up will be formed here soon, so that after the Corona Pandemic you get the chance to let off your frustration with the sound of the record in front of the stage.
As a rancid, long-haired camouflage pants wearer you should not oversleep this record, because otherwise you will be annoyed afterwards for sure!
[bandcamp width=99% height=120 album=702002180 size=large bgcol=333333 linkcol=e99708 tracklist=false artwork=small]
Leave a Reply