Written by Kep
Disembodiment – Mutated Chaos (EP)
Death metal from Québec, Canada
Releasing May 6 via Everlasting Spew Records
8/10
It’s time to roll up our sleeves and go someplace that’s kinda…ugly. Actually, waaaaaay ugly. Like, as putrid as vile as you can imagine. A place that’s as grimy and full of muck and shit as any putrid swamp or sewer. Disembodiment is here to bring their debut EP Mutated Chaos to the eyes and ears of the world, and it’s not a pretty sight. It’s damn good, though.
Disembodiment make no bones about it: they are a death metal band that plays sickening, cistern-dwelling filth. As a matter of fact, these same four guys have another band with the exact same lineup—Oath Div. 666—that also plays death metal, but they wanted to make something so abysmal and disgusting that it wouldn’t fit under the old name, so they created this as a separate project. Here two members (bassist Carl and guitarist Chris) assist vocalist Matt with his duties; the predominant method is retching deep throaty gurgles with a healthy amount of reverb, but there are also higher, hoarser screams and some midrange esophagus-shredding roars. Eric’s drums in particular benefit from a healthy amount of space in the master, which ensures that they sound more raw and present than processed, while the guitar and bass stomp and slither beneath. The Disembodiment sound is picture perfect heavy, slimy death.
Mutated Chaos is a hell of a bite-sized kick in the teeth, landing at only 14 minutes across six tracks (one of which is an intro). They make the most of that small amount of time, though, packing each and every song to the gills with violent, gut-roiling heaviness. “Ceaseless Discharge” (bonus points for the Dark Souls reference!) is tasked with getting the ball rolling, and it’s up to the challenge, full of skull-crushing mid-tempo riffage, visceral blasting drums, gurgling growls alternated with hoarse screams, and a doom-influenced middle section that slams HARD. It’s undeniably primeval stuff, the kind of death metal that makes you want to grow out your hair just so you can headband to your fullest potential. Fans of Undergang and Rottrevore will feel extremely at home in Disembodiment’s sound.
If there’s one thing that this EP does really well, it’s finding grooves that are heavy as hell without losing the dirty, disgusting feel. Undergang’s brand of brutality doesn’t really let you get your feet under you very often, and that works great for them. Disembodiment, though, is all about hitting riffs that are so damn fun to jam to that you wish they’d never stop. Check out the opening section of “Transcendent Upheaval of Unholy Graves” or the main riff of closer “Below the Mind of Morbidity” and try not to make the stank face. You know the one. This EP is a beastly masterclass in building up a gritty level of chaotic blasting and then hitting a groovy payoff riff that just feels good.
I’m giving this one a full endorsement. If you like gurgling, disgusting death metal, you should give Mutated Chaos a listen when it drops on May 6.
Favourite track: Below the Mind of Morbidity
Score: 8/10
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