Kingdoms of Derision

Skipping the first track of an album on the initial listen can be a good way to get into the substance of a record and past what is usually a lesser band’s only serious attempt at impressing you.

Thus, within the first minute of Inverted Throat Fuck by goredeath psychopaths Regorge, it is excruciatingly obvious this entire album will be a worthless, tiresome and annoying exercise. This is music practised not as an art, but as a craft.

Not a single guitar riff, drumpattern or bassrhythm on Inverted Throat Fuck distinguishes itself from what has already been presented by Cryptopsy on None So Vile six years earlier, only here things are noticably slowed down. The drumwork deserves a special mention for broadening my horizons as to how people must sound during their first year of practice. Simple and known drumpatterns abruptly follow each other and is the cause of everdecreasing instances of disappointment as the level of musical ambition from this band becomes clear. The vocals as delivered by Richy Graham and Phil Wilson, the bassplayer, belong to the same assembly line philosophy. From two kinds of indecipherable muttering, supposedly enhanced by the presence somewhere on this track by Joel Sta of Pyaemia, to throatrasping Ducks of Doom, it’s all immediately recognisable as someone else’s efforts being subjected to downgraded recycling.

Track two is representative of the rest of the record in all respects. This is a genrepiece of brutal goredeath, albeit a poor one, with the bass humming lowly in the background and the rest clearly presented. Low volume on the vocals hamper them further, and the whole production has a remarkably thin and inoffensive sound, quite unsuitable for its theme of gore and... derision. I understand how a variation of a favoured style is to slow things down, but you still have to experiment and come up with some ideas of your own. Maybe these guys are really trying to do something interesting, but that has certainly failed. If you don’t have anything creative to add, you need to apply for a job at Black End Records or perhaps leave the metal business entirely and help Slipknot pack their t-shirts and carry their drumsets.

Path of God – ”coincidentally” the first and least miserable track on Kingdoms of Derision, Phrenology of Sin, and Unleashing the Beast has some interesting short solos performed by Ged Leitch, however they appear out of nowhere and so does not fit into the compositions, instead clarifying the problems, however enjoyable these solos really are – and they do serve as the only highlight in this artless and completely unimpressive performance.

In this case the cover speaks for its contents: A combination of past glories into a lesser whole through the medium of other peoples’ sloppy craftmanship.

I must say, that I am no longer a big fan of brutal death as a whole, as much of it tends to bore me. However, I do very much enjoy this CD. This is the first and only release from Scotland's Regorge. The production and sound quality are surprisingly good for such an obscure band on such a small label. The CD is prefectly mixed as well, retaining all the brutality and aggression of brutal death while the blasting never drowns out the riffs; you can hear every note the guitars play, and every note is worth hearing. The songs are very well written and arranged. Unlike much brutal death metal, there is actually variety to be found on this CD - one can find everything from all out blasting passages, to groove oriented slower riffs, to well written tremolo riffs, to complex technical riffing. Standouts on this CD include the opening track, Path of God, and track four, Assembled in Defiance. Path of God starts out very fast, with blast beats and some very cool riffing, and then breaks down into a killer groove passage, guaranteed to get your head banging. The song is fast for the most part, but the tempo changes make it very interesting. Assembled in Defiance is a slower, more mid paced song. It features some very cool, dare I say, catchy riffs, as well as some kick ass soloing - another song sure to whip you into a headbanging frenzy. The combination of brutality, technicality, groove, and catchiness make this CD worth getting. Regorge may not be the most original death metal band ever, but they do what they do very well. If you like death metal, this CD will not disappoint.