Noxis – Violence Inherent In The System Review

[Cover artwork by Jerry Hionis]

Here is a random drawing intended as a crude visual representation of Violence Inherent in the System:

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If you, like me, were lucky enough to grow up in Cleveland amidst the ‘80s and early ‘90s, then you…

“LUCKY TO BE IN CLEVELAND? THE MISTAKE ON THE LAKE? THE PLACE WHERE A RIVER LITERALLY BURNED,” howled the malcontent from whichever bullshit town is lucky enough to harbor their unblessed presence.

Yes, you heard that right, Slappy: Lucky to have grown up in and around The North Coast through the ‘80s and early ‘90s, particularly for a kid who couldn’t get enough heavy metal exploration. Every metal band—large and small—put a pin in Cleveland for North American tours back then, and each night the venues were teeming with hair farmers high-fiving immediately after getting creamed in roiling pits. On weekends that didn’t feature national acts, we had a vigorous local scene providing every shade of heavy you could imagine, from Shok Paris to Breaker to Sacred Few, and onward into Destructor, Purgatory, Terror, Black Death, Severe Warning, Chemikill and Decimation—all of it eventually blossoming into greater extremes that coincided with the burgeoning death metal movement that bridged the two decades. Brutal acts such as Diabolicus, Blessed Sickness, Ludaci, Sin-Eater, Seductive Blasphemy and of course EMBALMER roamed free, and if we opened the doors to some of our brotherly neighbors in Toledo and Wellsville, GUTTED and of course Necrophagia joined the attack. In other words, it was a PARADISE….. which also happened to feature a river that caught fire.

Like a lot of midwestern kids, though, I wanted to see and experience more, so I headed west, where I spent the better part of two decades holed up in California. There were plenty of trips back to Cleveland through that long stretch of years, though, and over that span I witnessed a once vital NE Ohio scene dwindle; I noticed tours bounce from Pittsburgh right through to Detroit; and what Cleveland metal shows I did manage to catch, too many of them pulled in far too few numbers. Nothing outright croaked, mind you, there just seemed to be a palpable… stasis. Was Midnight responsible for bringing national attention back to the city? Hells Headbangers? A combination of the two? Whatever it was, things finally seem to be getting back to buzzing here in the CEE EL EEE, and you no longer have to jump state lines to experience home cooked thrash (Assault), death (Kurnugia), sludgy crust (Pillärs), pure speed (Vanik), modern death (Paradox Rift) or nearly any other form of heavy, and that feels amazing.

It is death metal that appears to be a particular Ohio specialty of late, though, sparked in part by the hype surrounding Columbus’ super easy to spell / pronounce Sanguisugabogg, and seeping into Cleveland’s waters to stir up new bands such as Mutilation Barbecue and certainly 200 Stab Wounds, the latter of which recently signed with Metal Blade after first splashing down through the encouragement of Maggot Stomp. These are crude, rude, chugging and knuckle-dragging death metal outfits, which is obviously just great, but it does make the arrival of an album like Violence Inherent in the System all the more exceptional.

Yes, hello, Cleveland’s Noxis is set to release one of the most squiggly-sqwoggly death metal punches to the chiclets of 2024. Maybe I should have lead with that? The backstory is useful, though, because, given the chosen base of operations, the Noxis approach to death metal isn’t at all what I was expecting to jump out when I first hit play. And what exactly is squiggly-sqwoggly death metal, one might ask? Well, I just made it up, so let’s just say it’s a form of notably swift and scooting death metal that’s brutal without outright slamming, and intricate with nary an ounce of pretentiousness. Let’s just hop right into having our heads exploded by a gigablast of riffs:

“Horns Echo Over Chorazim” hits the ground running like a cattle dog with a bee up its arse. There’s a very satisfying classic Floridian death metal sense to the violent energy here, and it takes approximately 5 seconds to realize that every single player in Noxis has come to the party loaded for bear. The fury is rumbling, everyone is hustling, and that juicy bass breakout just before the 1-minute mark jumps the song into a scrumptious Atheist (especially that riff right at 1:00) / Aspid measure that’s as thrashy as it is deathy. Again, this is pretty complex stuff—twists, turns and left hooks at any given moment, but at no point do the acrobatics feel unnecessarily flashy. “Horns” is also the only song on the album that features actual horns, and holy fricken moly is their presence ever deliciously loco.

I’m guessing that one example above might be enough for some to punch the shit out of a preorder button, but in case you’re the sort who needs heaps of evidence clobbered over your head, know that Noxis step to the plate with the following building blocks peppering the blueprint: Ripping Corpse, Death, Atheist, Malevolent Creation, Carcass, Sadus, Terrorizer and modern day Defeated Sanity. Yes, that’s an impossibly impressive stack of imposing influences very much intended to dazzle, but I assure you it does not overshoot the push.

Okay, here’s another bit of samplage. Opener “Skullcrushing Defilement” flies from the gate with that bonkers bass that just slappa-wappa-bobbles like a freshly landed 30” steelhead flopping its tits off on a pier, then everyone else quickly joins in for a notably brisk, tight and sharp jump for the throat. There’s a very Floridian assault reminiscent of early Monstrosity once the song hits its stride, but a clear modern edge that underscores brutal death metal’s penchant for a groove (without conjuring anything you could consider “groove metal”) coils around most everything as well. Again, every player is formidably armed: The riffing is ingeniously berserk, the drums are swift as shit and tighter than a camel’s ass in a sandstorm, and that bass… holy mother, the bass front to back on this record is a bubbling, bouncing, barreling and brain-bonkingly bananas bombardment—think Sadus’ Illusions after butt-bonging a Red Bull. Or, put less revoltingly, the bass adds a notably frisky fun factor reminiscent of the Roger Patterson / Tony Choy days of the early ‘90s.

In case it’s somehow not clear yet, the principal goal here is throttling brutality drawn with calculated squiggly lines, and that doesn’t leave a ton of room for rampant melody. The album is hardly devoid of it, though, as there are a few fittingly wild but blunt leads, and the above-mentioned bass delivers a certain sense of frolicsome harmony. Plus, the riffing clearly enjoys summoning the spirit of later era Death and Carcass, as evidenced by the unmistakable nod to a record like Human at the start of “Paths of Visceral Fear,” or the Heartwork salute up and down “Torpid Consumption” (incredible song). And speaking of Carcass, the grindier side of that band is also afoot here—a conspicuous presence of that early Earache grind in general, really, especially in the way a band like Terrorizer emphasized that unmistakable grind scoot on their (perfect) debut. That vigorous scoot is tattooed up and down Violence Inherent in the System, as evidenced by a crusher like “Emanations of the Sick.”

Not much left to say beyond the fact that there’s absolutely zero duds to be found on this record. Despite that truth, I know there will eventually be some no-funster out there who’ll give “Surfin’ Blood Futile” a far too serious side-eye for closing the record with a sunny bit of hang ten that could easily have found its way onto, say, Ghoul’s Transmission Zero. In the past, a song like this would’ve bubbled up after about 3 minutes of silence on the very last track of a CD, and and everyone would’ve had fun with it. So, yeah, “Lighten up, Francis” is a quote that comes to mind for anyone who might balk at this sort of levity.

Is an album like Violence Inherent in the System custom-built for any and all death metal maniacs shambling through the streets? Absoooooolutely! Zero doubt! Wait… of course not. If it did, it would probably suck. But if you happen to be an adventurous sort who appreciates death metal that knows how to cleverly balance frantic with meticulous, deadliness with playfulness and cruelty with polish, and you moreover love it when the style hits that sweet spot of being technical without being outright tech, you will surely need to put Violence Inherent on your shortlist.

Violence Inherent in the System: Guttural elegance from the gutters of the North Coast that not so politely requests listeners to hurtle themselves into the nearest wall at 100mph. Or, if you prefer a tidy summary in gif form:

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