What we've got here is a forty-four minute Swedish split that composes of two death metal EP's and although it's about full-length, I've stuck it in the shortlist for some reason and will now begin reviewing it. Gluttony make classic groove-influenced death metal like that of Entombed, Grave, Revolting and several others in that vein. You know it, you love it. The first two tracks, “Glory of The Rope” and “Dead, Rotten and Forgotten” fucking kill, with a frontman who really delivers in this approach. The guy's a fucking beast from the netherrealms, which makes me a bit upset to see that later on the record either he was replaced or the material is a bit earlier in the band's career (It's actually the band's 2012 demo). My guess is that the vocalist on these first two cuts is indeed their current vocalist, and the stuff on the latter part of the disc was performed by the other guy. (Which is true.) There's nothing really wrong with the band's old vocalist, he's just kind of stale to me, especially compared to the guy they brought in. He does have a deeper approach to vocals though, which later rolls into current Entombed territory on Rolling Stones cover “Paint It Black.” The “not growl” style isn't for everyone, but if it works for Petrov, I guess other frontmen want to try to save their throats as well. That being said, it's still a pretty decent performance. I definitely hope we'll hear more from the new vocalist though, that guy sounded pretty fucking awesome. (The singer of "Paint It Black is also Anders, the band's guitarist. It's one of the few songs he sang on.)
Sordid Flesh perform a similar approach to death metal, proving every bit as memorable as Gluttony. They seem to create more horrific atmospheres with the riffs though, which makes things a bit more tasteful than the latter end of the Gluttony side. The vocalist isn't quite as strong as the first frontman you hear on the split, but he's definitely better than the guy on the latter half of the Gluttony side. There's definitely bit more fright in the vocals here, as well as the music, which is what you want in old slabs of death metal. These guys have nothing to prove other than the fact that they want to make classic death metal, and I'm all for that. The disc ends with a smashing cover of Priest's “Ram It Down” which is delivered effortlessly and my favorite track on their side. I love my classic metal, and especially I love when it's been deathened or blackened up a little. You really can't go wrong with this split, so definitely give it a listen as a reminder of why there's nothing like classic death metal with no-frills. It's a must for any death metal fan's collection, and I do think that there will be some out there who really dig those latter Gluttony tracks more than I did, which will make their personal score a bit higher than mine.
Edit: I don't like to kill the prose in these reviews, so I'll add here that the gentleman I was having such disdain towards is actually that of Johan Jansson (Interment, Moondark, Regurgitate, Uncanny, ex-Centinex, ex-Demonical, ex-Entombed A.D.) who as you've seen has been in several highly recognized acts in the genre. It just didn't work out so well here for me, as sometimes happens. I much prefer Magnus Odling (Setherial, Sorgehegard) as I've said in the review. Johan “Curse The Gods” Jansson fans will definitely want to pick up this split, regardless of my thoughts here and I hope that they will.
(11 Tracks, 44:00)
8/10
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