When I was a younger human being and first getting into heavier music, every other band seemed to be passed off as a Led Zeppelin clone because, with more educated ears at this point, it was pretty true. But imitation/flattery cliché, it’s to be expected when a band makes you excited to create your own music that some of your primary inspiration would bleed through. How could it not?
Swedish death crew Consumption unquestionably worship at the rotting Carcass pulpit, and could you blame them? The bio that accompanies the media copy of their killer debut record “Necrotic Lust” even calls this album the one Carcass should have made after “Necroticism,” and I get where that line is coming from. But this isn’t just Carcass worship. The band—I cannot find a reliable lineup as there are three humans in the photo and I only can find two people credited with Håkan Stuvemark on vocals, guitars and bass and Jon Skäre handling drums, but who is the third man?!—has its own tools and bloodlust so you’re getting a record that certainly has been inspired by a source material, but this goes way further than that. It’s brutal and grimy and fun, and who could dislike that?
“Suffering Divine” opens, like every song on this record, with a quote from the 1964 film “The Masque of the Red Death,” and then it’s onto melodic death stomping, snarling growls, and a chorus that leaves bruising on your face and limbs. There’s a solid mount of soloing that powers, another run through the chorus, and then onto “The Last Supper” that’s punchy and devastating right away. The track is adventurous and ugly at the same time, delirious guitars surge dangerously, and humid crunch levels you and burns you to the pavement. The title track destroys immediately with a blistering fury and stampeding pace that compromises your safety. Guitars light up and flow as the growls lurch in blood, guts are stomped, and the final bursts splits skulls. “A Secret Coliseum” slowly ramps up, setting the stage before the explosions rise, looping with glimmering guitars and the melodies spiraling. The growls belch as devastation extends its grasp, the band lands even harder blows, and everything boils in ugliness before finally submitting.
“Ground Into Ash and Coal” features the legendary Jeff Walker of, yes, Carcass, a fitting inclusion that feels like a handing off of the blood-soaked baton. The track punishes and leaves blisters, some of the guitar work takes on a classic metal feel, and the vicious chorus lays into you, the growls and shrieks rippling your spine. “Offspring Inhuman Conceived” delivers a heavy Sabbathy riff, the band unloads with weighty pressure, and an ominous chorus gets into your bloodstream and infects. Leads scald as the track explodes with rage, the drumming serves up death blows, and a gritty yet soaring journey brings the track to a smothering end. “Twisted Shaped Reality” starts with gutting drums and monstrous growls that aim to swallow you whole. The leads detonate and aggravate the already consuming flames, the band lands more heavy shots, and the menace finally burns into a pile of ash. “Circle of Pain” crushes with menacing howls and a clobbering pace, feeling warped and unhinged. As the track develops, the barbarian aspect increases, lashing and ripping, leaving you as exposed meat. Closer “Devices for the Sentenced” lets loose and flies off the handle, giving a warning that this final trip is going to be rocky. Start/stop thrashing jars your organs, and a strong chorus blinds and turns rock into cinders. The track saves it best punches for last, waylaying as death explodes and the track relents by fading out into a haze.
Consumption do their best to revive melodic death metal that doesn’t glisten with over-polished production and still has a deadly heart at its core. “Necrotic Lust” definitely adds to the same style of gore as Carcass, but in a way of helping carry that torch, adding their own dashes and personality to the recipe. The album will scratch that itch for anyone looking for death that scars but also excites, and repeated visits with this can leave bruising that won’t go away anytime soon.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/consumptionsweden
To buy the album, go here: https://hammerheartstore.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.hammerheart.com/
Meat Mead Metal 