Faceless Burial – Multiversal Abbatoir
Band: Faceless Burial
Title: Multiversal Abbatoir
Label: Blood Harvest Records
Release 7th December 2018
Country: Australia
Format reviewed: 320k/bit mp3
Australia: A continent at the other side of the planet below the equator, best known for arse backwards seasons (Summer in December? What?), a popular soap opera, an elven inexplicably popular piano toothed songstress, and houses the highest percentage of flora and fauna that can kill you. Is Australia known for extreme metal? To most bread and butter casual metal fans, the answer is a poorly researched “Not really, no”.
Say hello to Faceless Burial, who hail from the city of Melbourne. The band first burst onto the scene with the release of their self titled demo in January 2015; and are a trio comprised of Alex on vocals and bass, Max on drums, and Fuj on guitars. They finally honed their art with their debut album ‘Grotesque Miscreation’ – a hugely satisfying slab of death metal that channels the spirit of 1990s Floridian death metal bands, with a musical palette influenced by artists that published albums on Roadrunner and Earache records all those years ago. Nevertheless, they cultivate a niche of their own making without sounding like plagiarists.
‘Multiversal Abattoir’ continues on from their debut album with aplomb; hugely confident riffs abound in the track ‘Thermiomorphic Meconium Aspiration’ that sound like a mash up between Immolation, Morbid Angel, and Vader circa ‘Ultimate Incantation’. Especially, if one was to imagine said album played back on a Technics SL1210 at around 29-30 rpm; imperceptibly slow enough to add a crunchy warm sludge to their old school death metal attack, giving it sonic flavour. This general theme permeates throughout the EP as a whole, whilst ‘Piteous Sepulchre (Of Amentia)’ features distinctly Cannibal Corpse riffing; throwing in crazy widdling guitar solos that are Trey Azagthoth-esque. ‘Fistulated Beyond Recognition’ is a track that features a more controlled and layered attack, building around a mostly consistent tempo to conclude with ‘Multiversal Abattoir’; based around sludgy blastbeats and low end bass, aiming to destroy crappy speaker docks and make your spleen vibrate.
Faceless Burial take you back to a more innocent time of Windows 3.11, hand written college coursework, patchouli and stale beer scented biker jackets, and the glorious time your best mate inherited his late grandmother’s Austin Maestro. A time that heralded the first taste of freedom where you all piled in the car, had a whip around for the petrol money, and drove up and down the land seeing bands that only ever played the London Marquee or Bradford Rios. In fact, you’re almost convinced said car owning friend from back in the day had ‘Multiversal Abattoir’ on tape; played on a Blaupunkt stereo system that was worth more than the car, such is the powerful nostalgia and deja vu this EP generates.
However, cynics may argue that the death metal scene is one of the most boring and overdone styles; repeating what was done much better some 2 or 3 decades ago. Before you throw such bands such as Faceless Burial under the bus, consider this: The originators are grey beards now, and we’ve already lost some of our best pioneering death metal musicians; most notably in 2018 Ralph Santolla who performed with Deicide and Obituary. New blood is always needed, and bands such as Faceless Burial must carry the chalice of gore for the next generation of budding extreme metal musicians. The only crime ‘Multiversal Abattoir’ commits is the fact it isn’t a full length album, and we can only hope that a future album continues with the same enthusiasm, passion and vigour demonstrated in this EP. 8/10 Goth Mark
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