Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Bandcamp Picks - Sunless, Cartilage, Carnal Decay, Mordbrand



A year after their demo marked them as prospects to watch, Minnesota's Sunless have delivered a debut that lives up to the hype. Urraca sees them following the convoluted path hewn by Gorguts and Ulcerate, eschewing speed for speed's sake to focus instead on atonal riffs and shifting time signatures. Great things are afoot here. [$5]



Bay Area band Cartilage make no bones as to who their influences might be. Much like Impaled (whose Doktor Ross Ewage helped with the layout), Dialect of the Dead updates the classic gory deathgrind of early Carcass with a clearer production and some impish humour. Symphonies of putrefaction, rotten to perfection. [$6.66]



My crash course in European slam continues with Zurich's Carnal Decay. You Owe You Pay keeps the circle pit going by alternating between fast sections and big catchy grooves like clockwork. The bass drops and other electronic flourishes will send anyone with a patch jacket running for the safety of their Hellhammer demos, but this should make the slam kids dance like happy prospectors. [$6.99]



Sweden's Mordbrand seems to only get better with every release. On Wilt, the prolific trio inject more hooks into the classic Stockholm death metal sound, turning in their most memorable batch of songs in the process. As the revival herd thins, those who stick around become the true kvlt. [$9]