Track Premiere: Egregore – “Birth Of Death”

[Artwork by Lev Y.S.]

There have been quite a few bands from the Carcass school making some fantastic music as of late. While this year has been fairly quiet in that department, bands like Pharmacist, Septage, and Miasmatic Necrosis have been having a blast in the retention ponds of Reek Of Putrefaction, Symphonies Of Sickness, and Necroticism. Not exactly a new thing in the goregrind genre, but something about each of these bands brought fresh stench of decay to their takes on the genre-defining band. Yet no one has quite stepped up to take on Heartwork yet. Andrew Lee’s melodic soloing arguably teases it most in the last Pharmacist record, Flourishing Extremities on Unspoiled Mental Grounds, but the songwriting and delivery still remains largely in the realm of the first three Carcass albums.

Enter Utah’s Egregore. The band add a bit ’93 to the mix with some “‘n roll” breakout riffs that come from the likes of Heartwork and Wolverine Blues while retaining the nastiness and aggression of grindcore on their debut full-length, Synchronistic Delusions. I mean, c’mon, be honest: even your grandma likes Heartwork, and Synchronistic Delusions still sits firmly on the side of records you can’t get away with spinning at Sunday brunch.

Take, for instance, “Birth Of Death” (hey, what a fantastic coincidence, we’re premiering it today!), the eighth track on the album. We’re already dick deep in d-beats, but Egregore keep ’em coming with righteous infectiousness into an explosive ballblast of energy that hits the nuts with speed bag fury while blurring genre lines between war and gore. The guitar tone scrapes against the walls of the ear in a manner not unlike Cemetery’s An Evil Shade Of Grey. The HM-2 is taking a fucking battering, but the band’s understanding and wielding of its mid-tone attack sets them light years above the next yahoo who bought an HM-2 clone just “because Dismember did it, bro.”

The Heartwork side really shines at the slower bits: the intro and the breakdown. Any aforementioned yahoo who has recently eBay’d an HM-2 can just slow shit down and let that fucker ring, but Egregore understand the importance of composing a strong bridge that actually goes somewhere, and does so with a solo delivered with the grace that constantly gets Heartwork mis-labeled as “melodic death metal.” (For those who care, Heartwork is a lot closer to the Wolverine Blues/”‘n roll” stuff than the melodic death metal of Dark Tranquility and In Flames to my ears. Sorry, no refunds.)

Long story short and personal tirades aside, if the names Dismember, Entombed, and especially Carcass catch your attention but ignite a sense of skepticism, give “Birth Of Death” a shot–if you like this then smash that preorder button. Yes, even you there in the baclava and Blasphemy shirt clutching your OG Left Hand Path CD to your camouflaged chest even though you know in your heart of hearts that Clandestine and Dismember’s Like An Everflowing Stream are the stronger albums but by the time you got around to it Left Hand Path had changed your life so much that you can’t quite let go.

Yes, you.

It’s not going altar your existence like the first time hearing the classics (let’s be honest, few things would), but Synchronistic Delusions does a fantastic job of aligning with the youthful inspiration and urgency that made those records so powerful, determinately carving melody inch by inch into a veneer of sheer brutality before coating it all in an extra finishing layer of rich darkness. Strong recommend for anyone hitting the gym, smashing up concrete on Ajax-riddled cocaine, or getting slammed through the brick walls of your local art museum courtesy of a life-sized Tonka truck piloted by the late great André Roussimoff.

Synchronistic Delusions is available for preorder on vinyl, cassette, and digitally via the Sentient Ruin Bandcamp and the Sentient Ruin Laboratories website

Posted by Ryan Tysinger

I listen to music, then I write about it. (Outro: The Winds Of Mayhem)

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