Thursday 24 April 2014

Revel in Flesh / Grave Wax - Corpus Obscuria

REVEL IN FLESH / GRAVE WAX - Corpus Obscuria (DOOMENTIA - 7"EP 2014)
First off, let me tell you that I really like what is happening nowadays in Germania, with their killer death metal scene. A lot of great bands have emerged there lately and many became some of my favourites. That includes also Revel In Flesh, of corpse! Also I like the idea to release a series of split seven inch vinyls, which Revel In Flesh participate in. It is really cool idea and great thing for the collectors, like myself, especially as I always liked both the idea of split releases and also the whole feeling of playing short, but killer singles (especially when they contain exclusive, unreleased material). I am sure that some people will moan that maybe it would be better to put all three songs, which Revel In Flesh has recorded for these three EPs on just one, maybe 10” or 12” record, but who cares… some people will always find a reason to bitch about, just because this is their nature. Anyway, yes… In 2014 Revel In Flesh has released three split 7”EPs and this is the first one titled “Corpus Obscuria”. It is an alliance with American Grave Wax! Released by Doomentia Records (who as always did just a great job, when taking care of the killer artwork, layout and the quality of their products), it is a fine piece of old styled death metal and a killer piece of black wax to add to the collection!
OK, starting with Revel In Flesh… Their song is titled “Corpus Vermis” and it’s something exactly what I was expecting to hear from this band. They carry on playing their rough and obscure death metal, which is so heavily infected by the classic Swedish sound and style that some may think it was recorded in Stockholm back in the early 90’s. So there’re many of those harmonic riffs on “Corpus Vermis” present, which will remind you of Desultory, Goddefied, Dismember, Edge of Sanity and so on and on… And obviously Revel In Flesh has also that aggression and roughness of the classic Swedish demos and albums. So yeah, generally again nothing new, nothing what would not be heard before, but just cool and solidly composed / performed Swedish infected death metal. If you worship this style, then I bet you’ll love this song again. I also like these riffs a lot, but maybe have some second thoughts on the sound of this song, which could maybe be more powerful, drums especially. In the first listen I also could not find myself in the order of these riffs, as the song structure is quite weird and messy, but I got used to it after a while. “Corpus Vermis” may not be the best thing, which Revel In Flesh has recorded so far, but it is good and solid. And generally I real enjoyed it… as always!
And now Grave Wax. I have their split with Claws somewhere in my collection, but haven’t listen to it for couple of years already, so I kind of forgot what was Grave Wax like. But it certainly is a promising project, seeing the line up with Kam Lee and Riddick brothers. They present two songs actually; “Obscuria Darkness Enraptured” and Impetigo cover “Dis-Organ-Ized”. For the second, I was never a fan of the grindcore gods, so I wasn’t too excited about the cover, but it is OK; reminds me the old Carcass actually, especially with these dual vocals. “Obscuria Darkness Enraptured” is the more important song and damn; it is really cool and definitely something what I would not expect to hear. I mean, I rather expected more filthy and fast sort of grinding death metal maybe, but meanwhile Grave Wax also shows their Swedish infection, with some harmonic and even quasi acoustic playing here and there. Not really a playing, which would be focused on sheer brutality and guts ripping, but more on creating the dark, maybe slightly eerie atmosphere (compare the production of Grave Wax song to Revel In Flesh – two very different kinds of death metal sounds!). The music is slow, kind of simple, but effective, the sound is really “grim”… and the vocals a great!

Final rate: 75/100

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