[Cover art by Aghy R Purakusuma]
If you’re reading this on the day it’s published, then it’s the middle of the week. Despite how popular that one Geico commercial was with the camel, real life people know hump day can fuck off! Right, Mike? Mike, Mike, Mike, right?
Of course, this fun bleeds into the music too. The album’s first single, “Baptized In Blood,” starts with the sound of a drum circle with waves lapping at the shore as a clean acoustic flamenco-style guitar strums along. Eventually, the melody from that acoustic translates to electric, and we’re off to the slamming races with all of brutal death metal’s core staples in tow. Naturally, the music video is as over-the-top as the cover art. What starts with all the members in matching swim trunks and fishing hats running along the beach turns into them fighting a Kaiju, with magic powers emanating from their instruments. You will be shocked to know that there was some jazz cigarette smoking featured in this promotional video material. Egads!
The acoustic work pops up a handful more times in varied ways. It opens the closing track with a more ominous, darker tone. At the same time, “Cult Of The Green” sees the acoustic fire off a few quick strums that only enter the fold as the way to announce the rhythmic pattern the accompanying straight dummy slam will follow (it, of course, includes a bass bomb). “Throne of Bones” will cull your worst fever with plenty of cowbell. The track opens with a hearty dose of the instrument trading off on an equal pattern with cymbals on alternating passages. The cowbell returns later in the song to ride alongside a pig-grunt laden breakdown that is pure meatheadery that later transitions into a cocky little guitar line and lead to conclude the track. “Apex Predator” also happens to include the line “We’re here to fuck things up and you will pay” (I think) before it introduces a shout-along “hey, hey” passage as if its lyrics are a command for participation.
Moments of levity aside, Stillbirth still put together more than competent brutal death metal with a good mix of other flavors thrown in to keep things interesting. The melody and lead in “Trapped In Darkness” have a dash of The Black Dahlia Murder. There’s an infectious bounce to the title track, but it’s the kind of hefty bounce that would be all too appropriate for the blob scene in Heavyweights. The aforementioned “Cult Of The Green” spends much of its time scraping the gutter in slow slam goodness. All the while, vocalist Lukas Swiaczny is busting his intestines with guttural lows, gurgling like a Florida reptile, roaring like a bear, or squealing like he’s at an audition for a remake of Deliverance. There are moments where I swear he’s basically scatting in pig squeals; the man is ridiculous.
Stillbirth likes schlock but also knows that a key element of the best schlock is silliness. Don’t let the mid-week blues get you down. Crank 36 minutes of Survival Protocol and remember to have some fun.
