Visceral Transcendence

Here we have a top-shelf contemporary death metal album, chocked full of technicality, speed, and bonecrushing groove; minus the boring overabundance of "slams". Much like godly titans Suffocation, the mix of everything to keep the listener interested is balanced in a very enjoyable and surprisingly fluid way- given the breakneck nature of the overall sonic experience. There are a couple aspects of this album that truly stand out from the rest of today's crop.

Vocalist Obie Flett has a distinct tone somewhat akin to a very thick burlap sack getting torn slowly into pieces inside a warehouse under an industrial fan, all the while blended with the tearer's empty stomach growling ravenously over the disturbing racket. This is most likely the weirdest analogy you have ever read regarding a vocalist's timbre...but my imagination ran away with itself upon hearing this guy. It takes a bit of getting used to, yet it goes so well with the next standout aspect I shall mention.

For a sound as disgusting as Inherit Disease possesses, the cavernous bleakness and sci-fi lyrical theme/cover-art serve as a very standout asset to the band's arsenal. There's no entrails hanging from chandeliers to be found here, but a feeling of outer-space desolation and horror. They truly do have a lot going for them, as their mood (which is something I look deeply into when listening to modern extreme metal, since most of today's bands lack any sort of mood whatsoever; in lieu of technicality) is greatly representative of this very tidbit of character. Technicality is a very prominent aspect here, yet somehow in the beautiful mess that is their songwriting; they do not come off as a "tech-death" band. What we have here, dear lovers of the disturbing and cacophonous, is a very fun, enjoyable, and soon to be classic collection of identifiable death metal canticles of doom. Put on your Alien: Resurrection DVD on mute, and slip into the dark...

Something is seriously happening in California of late, because its quickly become the haven for a large number of technical, brutal death metal acts that are savvy to both the benefits of aesthetic packaging and songwriting that can string the listener along without loss of interest in what otherwise might be a dull, expended category. Inherit Disease are another band joining the ranks of Decrepit Birth, Severed Savior, The Faceless, Odious Mortem, Arkaik, and others as they chisel out a huge block of territory to explore, and if the gorgeous cover art to their sophomore Visceral Transcendence does not captivate your attention, then the band's mesh of methodical, percussive riffing occasionally infused with spry lead work and crazy bass lines are sure to draw you into their spell.

There are some who would immediately pigeonhole and dismiss Inherit Disease as another of those 'generic tech death' acts who automatically fail at cool as they do not produce a recording which sounds like Autopsy or Incantation circa 1992, just as there are some curmudgeons who resist the lure of the cell phone, the iPod, the escalator and the motor vehicle. Believe me, while this Californian act is not 100% unique and they don't deign to be, they write songs with such a bludgeoning force and under current of tightly wrought, pumping vitality that I found them not only engaging but actually pretty damn memorable. There is the occasional squeal of annoyance, and perhaps a riff here or there that doesn't enthrall, but in all its a well produced, tautly executed work of hostility. Their roots lie in the obvious influences of Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Gorguts and the like, but I must commend them for their excellent drumming, qualified chugging momentum and for never at any moment devolving into flatulent, noodling tech jocks.

In fact, the first few seconds of the opener "Vessel of Inhumanity" are about as wanky as this band gets, with a flight of wild guitar over some fabulous, plucky bass strokes. Its almost as if the band wanted to tease you into thinking they were something they aren't, and then a brief few measures later dump concrete on you from the back of a mixing truck. From this point on, it's fucking hammer time, as dynamic chugging onslaughts consistently thread you through a vortex of carnal clobbering that changes its pace as often as a cold, calculating food processing plant batters, stretches and seasons its constituent ingredients into a final, digestible product, and I mean nothing negative by such a comparison, because this is one factory of bone grinding you would do well to lay down your currency upon.

Appreciable excursions into butchery include "Hivemind", with its writhing old school death blasts that cede to machine-like artillery grooves while the bass flips and flabbergasts amidst the unrelenting, pulverized certainty. "Digital Rapture" creates a spastic, discordant turmoil through which the brick house muted mayhem contorts into conquest, and "Prolific Dominance" is dense and distressful as the cautionary, guttural vocals hem and haw with the constant shifting mosh. Note that Inherit Disease are not quite a 'slam' band. The grooves are many and they are very well plotted, but not the garden variety crap spewed by so many deathcore or lesser USDM acts. I also appreciate that this is a band concerned with technology and human futurism rather than a typical, gore-soaked slasher film tribute, as "Nanoscourge" and "Beyond the Tyranny of Entropy" scurry through tales of cataclysm, both synthetic and naturally occurring.

If you're in the mood to have barbed wire fed in one ear and out the other, all your mushy gray matter and rhythmic resistance delivered on the far end in a sick jubilee of brains and chain link, then Inherit Disease provide you with just the right, hostile incentive. Individually, the elements at play here do not promise innovation, but taken as a sum, crushing statement this is an enjoyable album which trumps their debut and catapults them into the ranks of promising West Coast tyranny that might rule our roost for a long time coming. Resist at your own peril, but not at mine.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Back in 2006, I was introduced to this band via a post in the SMN News death metal discussion board. Their 2006 effort and debut full length "Procreating an Apocalypse" was a highly enjoyable effort that was absolutely crushing. While not completely reinventing the wheel, the album was chock full of absolutely evil riffing that proved to be quite catchy, all sprinkled liberally with well placed "slam" sections that elephant stomped my cranium on each listen. The album was a part of my regular listening rotation for many months, but as time had passed I put these guys on the back burner, while never quite forgetting the potential they exhibited on their debut release.

Enter 2010. During one of my semi-regular visits to the SMN News death metal discussion forum in which I continue to conduct my never ending search for quality death metal, I see a post giving info on a new Inherit Disease full length, titled "Visceral Transcendence". The album was quickly obtained by me and given an excited listen. As the first track bursts out of the gate, it becomes quite apparent that this band has improved on many levels. For one, they upped the technical factor. Not technical to the point where nothing sticks, but all of the instrumentation has been brought up several notches.

One of the only gripes I had concerning their debut was the lazy drum performance, the guy's blasts sounded weak as shit and his contribution seemed rather elementary compared to the rest of the band. On Visceral Transendance, the drumming is superb. Blasts are accompanied by well placed embellishments and cymbal work, and there is just alot more variety as far as the drums are concerned.

I had mentioned that the guitar work on their debut stood out to me for being quite evil, even for a genre where evilness is supposed to be pretty much a given. The atonal tremolo picked phrases where also surprisingly catchy and got stuck in my head for days. On Visceral, the riffing is alot more serpentine, lurching, and abstract. The catchiness isnt quite as apparent, due to the increased complexity of both the instrumentation and the song arrangements, but even so the guitar work presented here is a definite step up from the already enjoyable playing that I had witnessed on this band's debut. Slam sections are still present, but take a backseat to the twisted maelstrom of mindfuck riffery and arrangements that continue to pulverize me into a state of quality brutal death metal induced extacy with each listen.

Just like on the promising debut, the bass is surprisingly audible and can be heard clanging away to the guitars with ease. This guy knows his way around the bass and although he sticks to following the guitars for the most part, doing just that must be a feat in itself. Being able to hear the bass clear as day cutting through the rest of the production is a huge win in my book and adds to the quality of this brutal DM release.

Vocals have improved. The guy still has that toilet bowl gurgle spew thing going on, but to me he sounds much deeper and pronounced when compared to his contribution to the band's debut. The guy sounds simply crushing and has provided one of my favorite vocal performances of the year as far as a death metal release is concerned.

Analyzing producton is not my forte but I know when something sounds clear, and this release sounds amazing as far as production is concerned. Every component of the drum kit is highly audible. The rolling blasts, the thundering double bass work, the plentiful accents and embellishments provided by the cymbals, its all there and can be heard quite well. The only thing drum production wise that might turn off some folks is the tight, metallic sound provided by the snare, (think Deeds of Flesh's "Crown of Souls") but I personally love the sound of a good blast when utilizing a snare set up in this fashion. As stated before, bass is highly audible. Vocals are absolutely monstrous and yet they do not overpower the instrumentation in any way. The guitar production enables all of the riffing to be easily distinguished and I have no complaints regarding this aspect or any other aspect of the production for this release.

So yeah, Inherit Disease is a top notch brutal death metal band. If you worship bands like suffocation, disgorge, and defeated sanity, you need to wrap your brain around this album. This release is guaranteed to be in my top five death metal releases of 2010, and I will continue to let it destroy my ears with its greatness for many months to come.