Demonic Rage - Venomous Wine from Putrid Bodies CD

Despite their first full-length album, Venomous Wine from Putrid Bodies, being initially released in 2013, you should not mistake Demonic Rage as newcomers to the winding caverns of the underground. With only one original member from 2001 left, drummer Abhorer, it's easy to say that the band have undergone their fair share of line-up changes over the years which have left them with two fistfuls of demos and EPs that've been the make up of their scattered discography. This makes their full-length entry all the more spectacular, to the extent that it is being released once more via Iron Bonehead Productions on vinyl in mid-2014.

The material takes on one of the most ancient and unapplied and under-appreciated death metal formulas, which is an art not applied to many of the old-school death metal revival bands of recent memory. Often people forget the sluggish, near doom quality that bands like Grave and Autopsy were so proficient in creating; these compositions gives death metal it's morbid, flesh crawling potency as the listener becomes overwhelmed by the intake of the immensely heavy tuning and distortion of the instruments. Demonic Rage have done this quality justice in Venomous Wine from Putrid Bodies, with many tracks such as "All Pest Shall Fall Over Me" and "Evoking the Pestilence" partaking in the grim, spine chilling horror. Echoes line the vocals of the dungeon-like content and the production has a minimal dry rawness to it that leaves the album lingering in the realm between new and old. One can almost smell the rotten putrescence that is being expelled.

Don't let the mention of churning doom qualities throw you off, as the material is an even balance of chugging malevolence and windmilling frenzies; palm-muted strumming, blast beats, pinch harmonics, crazy liquefying solos and open plucked string bridges are just the beginning of things to come during the fast portion of the material. The double bass kicks and pummeling tom/snare combinations rise to an insane speed at times, as in "Ancient Symbol to Summon Necrophagous Demons from the Deep", where no breaks are given in the onslaught of brutality. As they endorse a powerful backdrop, the drums drive the ever muted guitar riffs, which are displayed with a horrific distortion that's enough to give goosebumps to any death metal lover. To wrap everything up into an incredibly gratifying experience are the gruff, low growls that only the most well skilled of vocalists can pull off to this extent without puking their bowels onto the ground. When it comes to compositions, each track is just as interesting and unexpected as the last, however at certain points it becomes easy to tell when the band are getting ready to slow down, like in "The Fall of Nazarene", but this isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

An extremely powerful performance, one of the best of not just this year but of all time! Demonic Rage have executed some of the best true old-school death metal revival material since the trend started within the past few years. Much akin to the works of early Grave and Autopsy, the slow tempo doom inclusions absolutely make the material a must listen; these segments fill the listener with a sense of overwhelming dread, while the faster bits make one want to headbang until they pass out. If you let this one pass you by without gracing your ears, you're absolutely crazy and not in the good way. You don't just want this LP in your collection, you need it!