Devourment is well-known as King of Slam Death Metal. This American is from Dallas, Texas. They formed in 1995.
This album is characterized by blast beats which compliment the louder guitar, monstrous gutturals and bass as they chug along, the slow slams characterized by the powerful, rhythmic crushing vibe they give off, and the faster parts characterized by the blasting drums and riffs and abominably harsh gutturals that create the savage, and brutal atmosphere that Devourment strives to create with these songs. One of my favorite songs on this compilation called "Molesting the Decapitated" is infectiously catchy as it is brutal with it's slams, it is truly a fatal mix, which works well and characterizes Devourment's sound. This compilation contains 3 demos as well featuring the old vocalist Wayne Knupp, these tracks have more raw production than the others and can be a good listen. [1]
'1.3.8.' is the ubiquitous compilation of early Devourment. It opens up with the classic 'Babykiller', albeit in a rather primitive form, and it's fantastic; it's got the most archtypical slam ever halfway through and the blasting sections are interesting in their filthiness and chaos. When you get down to it, the slams are the most coherent thing about Devourment; apart from the periodic mid-paced riffs, it's not like you really know what the fuck is going on when the snare rolls and random tremolo riffs start, you just know it's ugly and cool. Those are the parts where you sip your beer and reduce the intensity of your headbanging. When the tempo drops again, then you get to feel angry and hit something. [2]
The sloppy, super-heavy production is a great asset, with slightly buried drums placed pretty far under the very ugly guitars and constantly rumbling basstrain which is felt more than heard. The vocals just sort of lounge around; they're not executed precisely, and they don't need to be; they're there to be disgusting and they perform admirably at the task. The coolest parts of 'Molesting The Decapitated', ironically, are not really the slam parts at all; it's during the more midpaced, traditionally modern brutal death metal parts where the band shows their ability to craft actually engaging riffs and rhythms, which alone sets them above a ton of other slam bands. Songs like the title track or 'Devour The Damned' are like an elephant dick to the face, particularly the latter, which might just be my favorite Devourment track of all time, being bigger, dumber, and heavier than all the others. I guess that's kind of like being the fattest dude on an episode of Ricki Lake, but this is slam we're talking about, and I don't really expect anything more from an album called 'Molesting The Decapitated'. [2]
In conclusion, if you like slam death metal and bands such as Kraanium, Abominable Putridity or Guttural Slug, you will probably love this, Devourment have been around for a while, are one of the early pioneers of slam death metal, and do it well. It would be a sin to not have this album in your music library if you like slam death or brutal death metal. [1]
Tracks
- Babykiller
- Choking On Bile (Demo)
- Shroud of Encryption (Demo)
- Festering Vomitous Mass (Demo)
- Festering Vomitous Mass
- Postmortal Coprophagia
- Choking On Bile
- Molesting The Decapited
- Self Disembowelmet
- Fucked to Death
- Devour The Damned
- Shroud of Encryption
If you like it, please buy it on their official website/merchandise.
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