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VICTIMS OF CONTAGION – Lamentations of the Flesh Bound

David Chuva 02/11/2020 Comments Off on VICTIMS OF CONTAGION – Lamentations of the Flesh Bound

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While a lot of music fans are going through 2020’s new releases, some are still talking about last year releases and what maybe swept under their radar. Lamentations of the Flesh Bound is the debut full-length of the 6-piece technical death metal band from Pittsburgh (PA, United States). The album was released through Satanath Records and it contains 6 tracks for a total of roughly 38 minutes.

The first track, “The Promethean Flame” opens with a beautiful piano piece, provided by Chuck Forsythe (who also plays guitar), before jumping into some very intricate and technical death metal compositions that integrate few progressive elements. The use of piano/keys is not the focal point but whenever a section comprises the use of these instruments they do tend to turn things more interesting.

This is a record that relies heavily on death metal riffs with beautiful melodies provided by the lead guitar. Furthermore, one can notice the heavy use of double kick on the drums (which is common on death metal) and otherwise intricate arm composition done by Mike Rush. The vocals, mainly provided by Chris Edison (except for one track), fluctuate between deep and raspier/higher growls and are surprisingly not entirely incomprehensible. There are even instances where both styles are used at the same time. As mentioned before, the guitar leads are usually very melodic while the solos themselves rely more on technicality. The songs also include some breakdowns but they are far from generic.

The standout track is definitely “Autophagous Horizons”, a 12 min affair that uses basically everything from the aforementioned themes (technical death metal with melodic and complex solos, some breakdowns, both styles of vocals, etc), but instead of Edison the vocal duty is mostly performed by drummer Mike Rush. There’s a break in the song (around the 7th min) where it’s clear they’re about to transition to a different style, which uses orchestration/strings up before returning to death metal.

This is a very promising start for this band who is already celebrating 15 years, which is somewhat surprising since the first official release was an extended play titled Parasitic Unborn back in 2014. Fans of death metal (and especially technical death) should be pleased by this short and sweet release. Every track goes straight to the point rather quickly while still having room for some experimentation here and there. Definitely worth to be spun a few times.

8/10

About Victims of Contagion:

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Review by: David Chuva
Managing Editor: Elsa Marques

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