Revulsed
Cerebral Contamination
Everlasting Spew Records
Released 12/15/2023
9/10
I can't believe it's been seven long years in between releases, but brutal tech death masters Revulsed are back on the scene with their sophomore effort. The album in question is entitled "Cerebral Contamination" and it's chock full of capricious riffing and intricate flourishes that are fast paced and insanely good. I love music that challenges my ear holes; crawls into my brain and lets loose the aural savagery to full effect.
But before we dive into this new outing, let me give a quick view of the band's rap sheet. Is it criminal to say these Australian death merchants are out to rape the crap out of the listener...probably not. When they first burst onto the scene in 2015 with Infernal Atrocity, the guitars gave way to razor sharp precision (think Suffocation's Pierced From Within) as a frame of reference, coupled with the brutality of the drums. The experience lasted thirty-two minutes and if you could take the vocalist's guttural spewing bile for the whole time, you got a survivalist badge soon after.
The perpetrators of this said crime are Jayson Sherlock and Sheldon D'Costa; whom both left inExordium to form Revulsed. That first release turned a lot of heads, but a follow-up never came. Instead we got a series of cover songs released in 2019 as The Covers Collection. The band decided to cover Cannibal Corpse, Testament, Death and Gorguts. As good as it was, fans of the band were salivating for new music and it finally came in the form of a single called "Nefarious Devourment" in 2020.
The song was a frantic statement of sheer brutal proportion and it gave way to signing with Everlasting Spew Records for the follow-up. In addition to the new song, the band recorded 10 other little ditties to smash the hell out of your face. So without further adieu, let's rip into this sucker to see if the sophomore release can live up to the legend of Infernal Atrocity.
I think it's safe to say the opening creepiness of fading in and out guitars followed by the low guttural sounds start things off right. The track is "Dawn of Inhuman Savagery" and it's a relentless composition of twists and turns as it segues into "Equitable Sufferance". The riffing is insanely paced to an imagined projection of hammer beating down on pulverized meat. When you get to "Asomatous Existence" you can feel your ear holes getting raped to full effect. I love the breakdowns and meaty riffing going off in a spastic manner. The song projects pure evil and then it suddenly winds down into a fading outro.
As a listener, the reprieve is short when "Delusional Servitude" blisters into a relentless jam. The riffs squeal into spastic delight and the drumming pounds along in unison. I do really love the hefty growls of vocalist Damien Miriklis on this track because it sounds uncompromising and dominant. The opening of "Beyond The Depths of the Subconscious" gets to me early with a slow intro that grows fat with the raspy growls and monstrous rhythms to hammer at you repeatedly.
The middle numbers like "Perditional Enslavement" crush hard, but the splurging riff highlights my love of this type of technical death metal. We talked briefly about "Nefarious Devourment" earlier in this review, so let's focus on "Monotheistic Postulation" because the gurgling vocals really stand out for such a short number. You can't really make out the lyrics, but who cares when the flourishing riff takes over the song. "Inconceivable Hallucinations" jumps up next and continues that quick jolt to the senses. Again, the song is challenging when the intricately played riffs come down at the tail end of the song. I think it's safe to say I am head over heels in love with this one.
The remaining two numbers are daunting affairs. "Deistic Repudiation" again provides that disgusting gurgle from the pipes of Damien Miriklis and my ears detect some James Murphy worship with the spiralling riff that comes after. The ending number and title track "Cerebral Contamination" blisters about like some poor soul bleeding profusely from the ears and running around with boils popping out all over the skin. I'm probably exaggerating here with that said description, but that's what I was imagining when listening to such a short number.
You can't go wrong with this release if you decide to give it a go. I love most forms of death metal, but I find full enjoyment when the music is challenging on a sonic level that spews heaping amounts of progression. Of course you get precision riffs, frantic breakdowns and guitar flourishes that gel well with the sludgiest of disgusting vocals. This is what I like most about Revulsed and it's cool how they take their influences from bands like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Defeated Sanity and jam that into their song writing.
I think being on a label like Everlasting Spew will help to raise the band's profile and hopefully provide better opportunities for touring in the near future. If you love brutal and technical death metal, then by all means give this album a try. You won't be disappointed.
Kenneth Gallant, HMS