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A fun, blood soaked b-movie thrill ride of Death and Goregrind.-
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| Reign of Vengeance: Disembowling Swine |
Death Metal
Brain Damage Music
June 7th, 2011
- Disemboweling Swine - 2:10
- In the Club (with a Chainsaw) - 3:55
- She's Best Kept Headless - 3:09
- A Massacre of Mormons - 4:14
- A Misfortunate Ride (The Goregrinders) - 2:45
- The Unwanted Intruders - 3:14
- He Hates His Fucking Job, He Hates His Fucking Wife, He Hates His Fucking Life - 3:03
- A Tradition of Bloodshed - 3:49
- As Seen on T.V. - 3:08
- It Shouldn't Have Been Found, It Shouldn't Have Been Written - 3:10
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| Links |
| Review Information |
Release length: 33:34
Review posted on July 16th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Disembowling Swine (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Revenge by Bloodshed (2007)
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| Review |
Reign of Vengeance formed back in 2005 as a Death Metal group from Scottsdale, Arizona. The lyrical concepts seemed to take more from modern day concepts like crime, mostly around murder, as well as the typical topics of torture and death. The group has remained underground since they formed, issuing their debut EP Revenge by Bloodshed by themselves back in 2007. For their 2011 full-length debut, the group issued the album through a label called Brain Damage Music (perhaps a new label or a name the band put on since the label's other release, according to the internet, is by a band called Hammerhawk back in 1984 and considered closed to this day). Of course, after a little investigating, it becomes obvious this is a branch of Brain Damage Films, as well as the first to be issued through this company. So, with a horror film style group backing Reign of Vengeance, one can't help but expect a little more then a common Death Metal album from this band. Do they deliver on that expectation?>
Right off the bat, it's obvious the production was handled well. The quality is rather clear, but not clean enough to destroy the bite that the band brings with them for the ten tracks that make up the album. The guitars are kind of in between the deep and razor sharp sounds, but the bass works well at bringing them to a deep enough level that it feels more bludgeoning then flesh ripping. The drums do a good job at times to committing to that skin tearing pace, and seem to vary between blast beats and well paced American Death Metal approaches. The volume for the kit is well done too and all is around the proper level and clear with a strong click to the bass kicks. The vocals are typically a guttural approach that happen to be deep and almost sickly in a way, accompanied randomly by a higher pitched rhaspier style that comes off sadistic, and there are also moments with clean vocals that are more like pleading shouts then anything.
But the vocals become a dead giveaway to some of the influence to the band's music and perhaps even lyrical content. Almost immediately a more technical Death Metal approach, reminiscent of something Augury or even Obscura would utilize, but with a stronger traditional American Death Metal brutality and faster pace, especially in the double bass kicks. Aside that, the vocals kick in immediately with that more nasally sadistic sound, and shades of Macabre become present in the sound. "Disemboweling Swine", the title track to the effort, does a good job of setting the tone to the album with a song that is just a little loner then two minutes, as well as introduces the more criminal elements of the lyrics with the song having references to police thanks to the cleaner, more distinct guttural vocals. But, for as good a job as the song does to set up the release, it's far from one of the best as "In the Club with a Chainsaw" hammers away at the listener with a longer length, and faster material that feels heavier and far more crushing, especially thanks to the bass giving the material a heavier, deeper sensation that makes it's presence known through this and other tracks moreso to match the equally brutal vocals and lyrical concepts.
The momentum of the brutal sounding Death Metal continues throughout the album, and as it progresses the group does manage to bring in more of a unique approach to the music and seperate themselves from the obvious Macabre influences in the music and vocals. "A Massacre of Mormons" creates a much more brutal and intense atmosphere, focusing more on guttural vocals with the backing high pitched screams and clean shouting appearing during the chorus together, but also as a dueling vocal approach with the gutturals, leading to a very interesting combination to the slower paced crushing track. This song also has a brief slower spoken word section that takes the atmosphere of bands like Impaled and Ghoul in the record, feint as it may be, to the point where you could acknowledge some influence with it coming off more like the spoken sections of the track "Ghoul Hunter" from the latter of those two tracks. Again, it doesn't really come off to the point where it's obvious, but it does have that more b-movie feel and signature sound of bands like that included in the atmosphere, and does appear on other tracks to the album like with "In the Club with a Chainsaw". Of course this isn't the only time this occurs, as other tracks, like "It Shouldn't Have Been Found", utilize the same idea, except this time through news samples composed specifically for the album, which in turn makes this effort seem more like a conceptual piece.
"A Misfortunate Ride (The Goregrinders)" seems to have a different sound to the vocals also, which isn't too bad but puts a Glenn Benton from Deicide vibe to the track that is a bit undeniable, and then goes back to the normal deeper, intimidating guttural approach with the following track, "The Unwanted Intruders". While some influences can be clearly picked out, the album is still strong and has more of a unique vibe to it then just carbon copy other groups. "He Hates His Fucking Job, He Hates His Fucking Wife", for example, takes a more Goregrind approach to it, which isn't the first time, but again has that more b-movie feel until it slows down for the chorus. The band also includes some breakdowns to the song, which do come off a little more like something you would expect to hear in a more traditional Deathcore effort, but clearly attempting to invoke a more Slam Death Metal meets Goregrind approach, though still channeling that bizarre sense of humor Macabre has with the Impaled intensity and b-film feel, all while staying true to the band's more unique Death Metal approach that accomodates any different musical approaches or ideas to this and other tracks.
Overall, Disemboweling Swine is an interesting album. While the band's music doesn't come off as having a truly original foundation to it, the band takes what influences are shown and makes them their own with a unique flowing atmosphere from start to finish, a b-movie approach that ultimately makes the album more of a conceptual release then a standard album with unrelated tracks, and plenty of brutal songs that some listeners will easily connect with, such as "He Hates His Fucking Job, He Hates His Fucking Wife, He Hates His Fucking Life". Some tracks here take that kind of approach in a stronger manner, and while no songs on here are really bad, there are some you will happen to enjoy more then others for various reasons, whether it be that the song feels a little tamer, like "A Massacre or Mormons", or just because of the obvious influences such as with "Disemboweling Swine" and "As Seen on T.V.". But, in the end, you can't help but sit back and enjoy the blood soaked ride that Reign of Vengeance takes you on. Disemboweling Swine is a strong album that has a fun low budget film quality that is hard to mistake, and well worth checking out.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Brain Damage Music
via Clawhammer PR.
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