Scorched
Echoes Of Dismemberment
(Unspeakable Axe Records)
Rectifying one of the best mistakes that I’ve ever made in my life with that earlier released Source review, I actually did manage to find the act the act that I was originally trying to review from my home state of Delaware. I was born right in the capital and in those days there wasn’t much metal to be had – at least when I was a boy. So it’s great to hear a potent death metal act here liked Scorched, which brings with it the right amount of guts and groove. I’ve always loved groove in my death metal, especially when it comes with an absolutely volatile vocal approach as the one offered here. Matt Kapa delivers that with a force that rivals anything I’ve heard from Grave, Entombed, Dismember, Bloodbath – this is what you want to hear on a classic death metal album. I also need to mention that these are some really young dudes, so to hear them playing great death metal at this level is nothing short of amazing. Nick Carucci and Steve Fuchs both shred, but they’re also a bit technical and manage to decorate these old cuts with a little bit of blood and glitter that we may not have expected. The album actually opens with a synth piece called “To The Chamber” which definitely sets them up as much different generation than the gentlemen that played this in the early nineties. The synth even continues with “Vile Lingering Stench” and shows to me that these guys are as good at death metal as they are at creepy synths and should utilize both in order to become something of a classic/synth-death act that we’ve never really heard before. But even if that doesn’t sound like the greatest idea to you, Andrew Benenati and Matt Izzi pound both the bass and drums respectively, giving off a grisly familiarity that makes for a record that gets even better with multiple listens.
I looked at the band’s picture and saw what looked like a bunch of kids, sans one older looking dude. Thing is, these kids can play the hell out a genre far older than they are and put shame to the greats. Say what you want about the last Entombed record, this is a disc that proceeds to defecate all over it in a fashion that you’ll have to hear to believe. Echoes Of Dismemberment isn’t a long record, but it doesn’t need to be. Scorched do not wear out their welcome here and they give us just enough rotten steak to chew on to decide whether or not we’re up for another meal. Say whatever you like, but I have a feeling that most of you are really going to dig this one if you’d even consider yourself a hardcore elitist in the world of old death slabs. These guys sound about ten or twenty times their age in level of experience and that to me equals fucking talent – sheer fucking talent. Where the fuck were these guys in ninety? I think Scorched could have been a real household name about twenty years ago. While noting that and even licking the stamp in order to send out the letter, I think that these guys could still become a household name in the death metal genre. Give them a shot, I think you’ll be surprised. I know I was. For a random band I picked out of a list just to see what the scene was like in my prior home state, I think I might have just stumbled on gold, again – accidentally. Looks like I need to start making more accidents.
Purchase Echoes Of Dismemberment here.
