Sucking Void - Scavenger

SUCKING VOID - Scavenger (Self released demo 2012)

It is sad that the reputation of the German death metal scene has been completely devaluated in the previous decade, but that’s the fact – from around 1995 up to the mid 00’s there were maybe just two or three properly good death metal bands in this country, while before it held a decent and relatively killer scene. If I mention such bands as Morgoth, Atrocity, Blood, Protector, Torchure, Agoraphobia and Fleshcrawl – just to list very few – then you’ll realize how much devastation has been brought by the armies of death metal in Germania. But once black metal started to spread its darkened wings, death metal has been lost there almost completely. The old bands has either split up (Protector, Torchure, Agoraphobia) or turned into some laughable caricatures of themselves (Morgoth) or changed the music so much that it’s unbelievable (Atrocity, Pyogenesis)… I guess the more respect I have for Fleshcrawl then, as they were the only ones who kept their style. Looking at the past few years, one can spot some freshness and new blood coming from Germany. Prostitute Disfigurement, Purgatory were the likes, who crafted some brutal death metal first, but there weren’t any really killer and top class, influential bands anymore as in the past (well, Necrophagist may be one, but I’m completely not into their technical style). And recently the old school corpse has been exhumed, bringing us such bands as Mandatory, Chapel of Ghouls, Infinity Obscure, Lifeless, Revel In Flesh, Exorcism. Again, not really the best bands around, but solid ones and good enough to keep the faith in Germania that their death metal is better now ever since the early 90’s.

And here is another Deutsche band, which may interest some of you – Sucking Void is their name. Although their death metal is not so fully dedicated to the old school values, it still kicked my arse solidly. ”Scavenger” is a newly released, debut demo of this troop and I can say that – for the beginners – this is truly a decent and solid effort, one which I can recommend you getting, if you’re into death metal demos. Their music is sort of conglomeration of old styles (including the Swedish one) with more modern ones, but without getting dull and over complex, which is good.

When I write about the Swedish influence, then I mean some more melodic and groovy parts, which happen here and there, like in “Conserved to be Consumed”. Some of the parts may for instance remind you some recent Grave albums, which is always good. And when I write more modern then I mean mostly the production, which is very tight and brutal plus some riffs, which are more into the American extremity and diverse vocals (growls, screams, etc), not to forget about the fact that majority of the demo has been played in furiously fast pace. Sometimes the whole music of Sucking Void reminds me Aborted (like in “Scavenger In the Morgue”), although without such strong grind core blasting. And also often I can add many references to the Vomitory and Fleshcrawl albums and since I think that “Scavenger” offers just killer songs, then I’m fully happy with the demo, really! Sucking Void offers a lot of energetic, relentless, furious parts, with the two songs, which I mentioned earlier being my favourite ones, while “Rearrangement of the Flesh” annoys me a bit with one or two parts, when Sucking Void gets dangerously close to deathcore’ish playing, but it’s also a decent track anyway. But as I already said, I just like the whole demo, so I’m eagerly waiting for some more atrocious sounds from those Germans.

Standout tracks: “Conserved to be Consumed”, “Scavenger In the Morgue”

Final rate: 75/100