Rating: 7.0

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1.Masochistic Rampage
2.Cast to Flames
3.Unmercifully Beaten
4.Mass Execution
5.Retribution
6.Shotgun Sodomy
7.Legion of Sickness
8.Seething Darkness
9.Catatonia (live)
10.Shotgun Sodomy (live)
11.Legion of Sickness (live)

Band Website: Unmerciful

Unmerciful - Unmercifully Beaten

Tony Reust - Vocals
Clint Applehanz - Guitar
Jeremy Turner - Guitar
James King - Drums

BLASTBLASTBLASTBLASTBLAST. That's pretty much what this album is. Bearing that in mind, it's pretty good for what it is. Featuring several ex-members of Origin, Unmerciful pretty much takes that band's approach to insane speed and takes it in a more brutal, less cosmic direction. The comparison is obvious, but Unmerciful is more “street level violence” and less stargazing in general. The vocals and lyrics are generally the biggest difference here – they're not quite as frantic, and the unique concepts Origin explored are entirely missing, replaced by the usual “brutal gore” subject matter.

OK, enough comparing this to what these guys were doing 2 years ago. This is a 30 minute face-punch of pure nastiness, shredding away with plenty of ear-ripping pinch harmonics, and for the most part the songs rely far more on sheer power rather than technical wankery to get the point across. The production, obviously, is very drum-focused, although the guitars have a fair bit more presence than on a lot of similar discs. There's not a lot of prominent bass to be found, but I suspect that's mostly because they didn't have a bassist and the duties were split between the two guitarists, with an added guest appearance from Alex Webster on “Shotgun Sodomy”. Either way, the insane blasting and guitar acrobatics are the main focus, while the vocals do a good job of punctuating the music without becoming overly forceful.

Overall I can't really think of much more to say here. ‘Unmercifully Beaten' is an enjoyable brutal death metal album, with plenty of meaty riffs to sink your teeth into, and some seriously disgusting lyrics (“Shotgun Sodomy” and “Retribution” in particular stands out here, although the latter has quite a happy ending). The only real annoyance is the presence of two pointless live tracks, which serve no real purpose and seem to be included merely to push the running time over the 30 minute mark. The cover of “Catatonia” is also listed as live, but I suspect it was recorded at a soundcheck since there's no audible crowd noise or live banter of any sort. Without the two live tracks, this would have been about 26 minutes long, which is a perfectly acceptable length in my book. Ah well, I guess it proves they can pull this stuff off live, which is always good to know in this age of excessive studio cheating ;)

October 8th, 2006