(Editors Note: Matthew kindly did this review last year and it was lost in a sea of messages but the EP deserves attention and some of you may not have checked it out yet so I’ve put it up late – my apologies to the band and particularly to Matthew for my oversight. Now go read then go buy!)
Review for Rex Shachath- ‘Sepulchral Torment’ E.P.
By Matthew Green
I am an unashamed fan of Technical Death Metal- I find the challenge of absorbing the ‘all-points-attack’ of a band like Spawn of Possession or the blistering ‘1000-Uzis’ approach of Brain Drill a total joy.The ice-cold chaos of Ulcerate brings me much happiness but occasionally one wants to reset the system, cleanse the palette of Death and this E.P. fits the bill perfectly.
Rex Shachath bring the sledgehammers, the spiked clubs and the cudgels on their debut E.P., quite content to leave technical wizardry and dizzying time-changes out in the modern day cold and drench us in the warm viscera of classic Old School Death Metal, the kind that we all grew up on, breaking our milk teeth on the likes of Death, Obituary, Entombed, Cannibal Corpse to sit proudly alongside Vomitory, Severe Torture, Deranged, Blood Red Throne and their ilk.
After a perfunctory 30 second intro, we are plunged straight into a series of riffs designed purely to make your head bang, the sort of riffs which need an Ed Repka cover, a Scott Burns production and a small, tattered flag spinning in the centre. There is a hint of Slayer, a sniff of Vader and a soupcon of Pestilence- these are men who have absorbed their Death Metal history fully and have regurgitated it for our pleasure, with nary a taint of modernity.
Vocalist Dave Connolly is, perfectly, a cross between Schuldiner and Van Drunen displaying an arid rasp rather than a guttural bellow but, most of all, he convinces- I can FEEL his passion for this enterprise and his cohorts back him utterly, something which I’m sure, comes across thrillingly in the dank of a local club.
Special mention must go to the production – while all elements are crystal clear and shine through the mix there is a delicious gleam-repelling coat of filth and thick scum to the guitars- this type of music needs a certain density and weight to enable maximum head-caving to occur and here it cleaves in all the right places.
If you’ve read this far then you surely have an inkling as to whether this is for you or not- I urge you to act on that flutter in your chest. It may not be pushing the boundaries of Metal, or even of Death Metal, but it’ll satisfy that place within you that craves stinking, rotten and rancid meat.
8/10
Find links to everything Rex Shachath here.
Rex Shachath Live Dates
Feb 28th – The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh
Mar 1st – The Tunnels, Aberdeen
Mar 2nd – Flanagans Bar, Elgin
Apr 14th – Auntie Annies – Belfast
May 18th – Dublin Death Of Death Festival
Jun 1st – Day Of Decay, Dublin
Jun 13th – Grind The Nazi Scum Festival, Torgau, Germany
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