Vomitory

Blood Rapture (Metal Blade)
by Vinnie Apicella

Vomitory‘s longevity is well-earned. They’re fast and flawless, lethal aggression lent to the literary topic of the day – picking apart the nation’s state and religious hypocrisy in a demonstrative and downright disgusting lyrical diatribe that’ll leave yer gastric juices dropping from the smell of slaughter (copped from their fourth track, “Epidemic (Created To Kill),” but hey, it fits).

Henrik Larsson’s studio work is the stuff of legend, lending another stellar level to ten more blood-curdling blows. “Condemned By Pride” is like Entombed’s robust guitar riffing on DCLXVI: To Ride, Shoot Straight… with the bone chilling extreme of Left Hand Path, though I’m not sure I get the joke with the G-rated title…

“Stray Bullet Kills” has Slayer’s sinister South Of Heaven style opening before demolishing any further impulse for comparison with anything other than a semi-automatic discharging lead into your skull. “Chainsaw Surgery” concludes by describing in great detail a body relieved of its limbs among one of the more musically uplifting massacres one might endure for 3:11 of their useless lives. “Primal Massacre” finds the cynical Swedes in primitively satisfying form, instrumentally adept and acidic.

For a decade and a half, the steadiness of this band discharged from the bowels of Venom, Death, Deicide, and dissatisfaction with all forms of human gaiety comes across in a sharp, swarming display of expulsive shred and skillfulness few can exploit and fewer can fake.
(2828 Cochran St. PMB #302 Simi Valley, CA 93065)