Intense Killings

Maybe I should start by admitting that this is no 'Pierced From Within' or 'Altars of Madness' - i.e. a great masterpiece of the genre which deserves a 95-100% rating. 'Intense Killings' is just good solid USDM, with some grind influences and more than a dash of genuine crushing brutality. As you might assume by the "death/grind" tag, this isn't post-Devourment ultra-slam of the variety that had already proliferated by the mid-2000's. Nor does it feature anything resembling over-polished production or show-offy musicianship. So in other words, Anoxia could perhaps be characterized as a very 90's sort of DM, and seeing as 2004 wasn't exactly the genre's most fertile era - less so, even, for the American scene - this strikes me as a fairly refreshing listen, relative lack of originality aside. Vocalist Dan Pevide (also of Goreality - check them out, they're good!) sports a quite deep growl/gurgle sometimes reminiscent of 'Tomb...'-era Chris Barnes, albeit a little more versatile in tone. The riffing style, while not obviously derivative, reminds me a little of Regurgitation/Necrotic Disgorgement (whose unoriginal-but-rather-good 'Suffocated in Shrinkwrap' coincidentally came out the same year) - you know, pretty much the standard Middle American brutal death approach, slightly technical and divorced from any direct thrash influence.

Individual songs? Forget it! This might as well be one 36-minute suite, with slight variation from one movement to the next. But basically anyone who likes brutal deathgrind, and has a few extra bucks on hand, should try and track this down - I got mine for about $6, so it's not exactly a big collector's item.

On a final note, the samples they use here - including one from the Nicholas Cage flick "8 MM" - are actually rather well-placed and somewhat intriguing. They don't add a whole lot to the vibe of the album, but the fact that they add anything at all is somewhat remarkable, given how many bands flat-out abuse the privilege of sampling.

Right from the beginning, “Intense Killings”, Anoxia’s first and only full length album, is a brutal and chaotic slab of grinding death metal. From start to finish, every song is insanely fast and heavy, offering almost nonstop blast beats, hundred mile an hour riffs, and guttural vocals. The only breathing room is found in the occasional, cleverly used sound sample.

The music itself is almost as technical as it is unrelenting. These guys seem to have an endless supply of riffs, as no riffs are repeated later in songs; they just go from part to part. Tempo changes are abundant, as songs constantly switch from being fast, to mid-paced, back to fast, and then they get even faster. Vocally, singer Dan Pevide(also of Goreality) offers a wide array of growls, grunts, and screams. His lyrics are also incredibly disgusting(as is the case with many death metal bands), most notably “Sex Crime Atrocity”, which details the rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl, and “Fecal Murder”, a song about a murderer who kills people by choking them to death with his own shit.

The production is good as well, as every instrument is clearly audible. This is a very good album overall, and should please any fan of brutal death metal. Its too bad we won’t be hearing anything else from Anoxia.