Caustic - Promo 2007

Miguel Vidal - Guitar
Chus Torres - Drums and Percussion
Xavi Brossa - Bass
Roger Moreno - Vocals
Franco - Guitar

Nice. Here's new output from the Barcelona band, who've brought us a snug new track couplet of gnarled-up Brutal Death Metal. I distinctly remember reviewin' their The Horror Cult outin' for DC a year or two ago, and their bowel-upsettin' rumble remains intact. Back then, my reviewin' style was dreadful and made Anus.com reviews seem jovial; humourless, priggish ‘n' impenetrable to the point where I can't even look at one without cringin' heavily, wonderin' what the heck Kunal, my fellow reviewers ‘n' of course, the DC readers must've thought when I kept dolin' out all that tedious twattery. Since then, (I think [and hope]) I've managed to jack a few jets o' jest into my analytical arteries, so that ought to assist me with this critique o' the latest Caustic, which sees them continuin' in the same riff-driven vein o' the The Horror Cult disc, only with a few more techy flourishes o' unpredictable widdle.

The title o' the first tune does well to describe the content o' the promo, ‘cos Caustic play progressive Brutal Death Metal that submerges you in a heavy tide o' vehement human thought-processes, channellin' their rage into material replete with big, aggressive vokills, incendiary fretwork and violent drum-abuse. Like the most recent Surgical Dissection album [review], this is Brutal Death Metal minus the mindless (yet fun ‘n' addictive) US trappings that many of have come to expect from an act labeled-up with the now-insignificant ‘Brutal' tag. Caustic keep a flowy vibe of weighty modern-day brutality, but rather than stodge it up with samey slams, they supplement it with a few dug-up chunks o' old skool outlook. Given that us guilty self-pleasurin' chug-heads can oft become insatiable whilst in the depths of a highly-comfortable slam-binge, I for one need such contemporaries as Caustic to punt me sharply in the sphincter and compel me to re-acknowledge the old skool alchemists that got me onto the Death Metal drug in the first place!

So, of course you can expect to be cudgeled in the mouth by Suffo inspired structural-clatter, ‘ave your guts slit by gleamin' shards o' incandescent Cryptopsy leadwork, afore shortly wakin' up on soiled sheets with the beamin' faces o' Immolation ‘n' Gorguts bearin' down on you (the latter lookin' a lot like the laughably mediocre band portrait that adorned the Erosion o' Sanity inlay). Over by the medical supply cabinet, blood-spattered scrub-clad surgeons like Gorgasm, Strangulation, Pathology and Soul Erosion are greasin' their arms right up to the shoulder in preparation for your rectal examination.

The pair o' tunes has been produced to a shiny level o' clarity, with stomach-curdlin' bass pulse, glistenin' solo-string head-shredment and plenty of reverb on the domineerin' vokill exhalations, especially the high-pitched, tortured squeals. The cymbals could've been a bit brighter, ‘cos they seem to try ‘n' poke through the mix a bit, and the widdly guitar sections seem to have greater clarity and emphasis than the low-end parts, which sound a bit muddy in contrast.

If you're into pre-slam, Trad Brutal Death Metal with virtuosic guitar highlights and a whirlin' technical edge, then you'll enjoy these seven shiny new minutes o' Caustic.

January 3rd, 2007