Memento Mori - 2019
8.5/10
About a decade ago, a filthy and grimy death metal act known as Vultur arose out of Athens, Greece. With two albums to their name, their second disc titled Drowned In Gangrenous Blood does everything in its power to let you know that sinking in putrid stench is imminent. Gore-obsessed death metal acts can seem like a dime a dozen, but every now and then, one will stand out to some degree. This is one of those instances.
With an OSDM foundation, Vultur takes what’s already a harsh and unforgiving template and stretches a gradient of noise over every aspect. The vocals, guitars, and drums alike all reek of struggling to emerge from a trap, just like the heinous album art portrays. The doomed-out title track opens with a drowning sensation, latching to music cooked up to paint a disgusting image; surprisingly, the riffs themselves have some sharp rhythm to them. That’s really the name of the game all over.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Drowned In Gangrenous Blood takes the raw, rumbling drum sound reminiscent of early Nile to match the incomprehensible, deep gutturals. Oftentimes, this approach will thrive when strong solos and leads poke above the murky surface tension. “Crushing The Ribcage” has plenty of this, leaving some nasty imagery to the listener. “High On Adrenochrome” boasts some strong leads to carry the riffing, backed by hard and tight drum progression. Closer “Postmortem Lividity” even rings in some cleaner, haunting leads to the effect of unraveling some raw, painful drives to the chest.
There’s no hiding what this band is all about. Writing material that is this blunt in song titles with crushing delivery to match it can be lots of fun if things stay brief and don’t teeter on too long. Those who aren’t into death metal aren’t going to find anything game-changing, but fans of the style should absolutely seek this out.
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