Healing by Festering

Perimeter are a gem of the underground death metal scene. Hailing from St. Petersburg in Russia they have a breathtakingly crushing sound; this is due to the tuning of the guitars (I'm guessing A Standard), the production, and the airtight chemistry in between the musicians, and last but not least, the vocals; they range from a shriek to a shout to fairly low growls to in-fucking-credibly low bowel churning vocals. There is of course keyboards which add an extra layer of depth to the music. I am at loss for words trying to describe all this album has to offer.

The musicianship is fucking airtight on this album, from the drums, to the bass, to the keyboards or guitars, everything is tight and heavy. The songs are very well crafted and offer a good bit of experimentation to keep things fresh. The riffs can be strange but they are always good and catchy; the bass mostly follows these riffs but its powerful sound adds to the crushing heavyness of the guitars. The drumming is fucking fabulous; it follows and complements the guitars while always having a little something going on to add to the actual song. The drumming is surgically precise here, and it would be horrid if it were any other way.

The songs remain fresh after multiple listens and have very solid a structure to them. There are rifs upon riffs upon riffs and they are all incredibly good and catchy. They are like the drums, surgically precise and absolutely crushing. The vocals are very well executed and have a high range implying more than one vocalist; but only one is credited in the liner notes.

If you are looking for a great death metal album filled with incessant headbanging, this is exactly what you need. However way you obtain this album you will not be disappointed.

As of this writing, a grand total of 7 users actually own this album. It’s quite sad, actually, because this album deserves much more praise. This is one of the best death metal acts I’ve come across in recent times.

Well, where to start? Almost all of the album is pure quality. Let’s start with the vocals then. According to the credits, there is only one vocalist. Now, I’d swear there were at least two. The vocals range from screeching highs, painful cleans, to guttural lows. If it is just one guy, then he is fucking talented! He has so much range, and none of it sounds like shit, either. He is a master of the voice.

The music…C-R-U-S-H-I-N-G! Oh, man, it’s so punishing. The guitars really make it so brutal. It kind of reminds me of the guitars on Meshuggah’s “Nothing”, which makes me wonder if these guitars have more than 6 strings. It definitely sounds like they do. The riffs…excellent. There are plenty that catch on and replay in your head after it’s over. The last section of “Glaciating Blood” is one of them.

The drumming is really good. Plenty of double-kick and blastbeating action everywhere. The entire album is chock-full of awesome drumming that picking one section out for praise would seem an injustice to the rest of his work, but one example could be from :32 on “Disembowel The Mankind”, where his drumming is very tight and super catchy.

One thing that is different on this death metal album is the use of samples. At the start of most songs, there is a sample part (the strangest being on “Vanillism SS”, where it sounds like a 1950’s movie intro or something) that introduces the song. I actually don’t mind this, as it gives the songs an extra edge. The middle section breakdown on “Bloodsucking Parasite of my Soul” makes way for the samples, and they definitely don’t disappoint. The final track “Hoc Age” is entirely sampled, but it’s not lame or stupid (I think).

One minor drawback with the album would have to be track 9, “Biatch!”. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be, but it only seems like it’s there for filler purposes and doesn’t really do anything great for the album, only a lead-in for the 11-minute monster “Baptism of Fire”. It probably would’ve been better left out. But, at least it’s only for half a minute, so it’s not terrible.

So, that’s what I think. This album is so sadly underrated, and only 7 of us (at this time) are actually getting a glimpse of a band with a really bright future ahead. Their math metal style is very unique, and I urge anyone into death metal to give it a go.

Best tracks: Glaciating Blood, Bloodsucking Parasite of my Soul, Gulping Broken Glass, Fear of Fearing, Baptism of Fire