It’s been a pretty down year for deathcore, with few good releases coming out that really struck a chord with me (Joe Deathcore Hater: dude there’s NEVER been a good year for deathcore!  Deathcore sucks!  Well, this review wasn’t written for you JDH, so pour some cold water down your pants and go fire up the new Deicide).  So here we have a late year debut LP from a group of Frenchmen band trying their hand at the whole deatchcore schtick?  And their name might be an attempt to play off the incredible popularity of the show that they share a name with?  Couldn’t be good, could it?  Let’s just say fans of the genre should rejoice as this one’s a crusher.

Once “Swamp Fever” gets thing started, right away the listener will be immersed in all the down-tuned, blast beat driven heaviness that drives the best deathcore bands.  You also can’t help but notice the bass/bottom end, which is turned up to almost obnoxious levels; think Hate Eternal’s – Fury & Flames but for deathcore.  It’s not bad and might take some getting used to for some, but is much better than no bottom end at all.  One bonus of a production like this is you actually get a nice punch to the kick drums, so you can hear AND feel each note being sent forth from the feet of drummer Cédric Ciulli.  One thing that is very odd though, and I couldn’t find a reason why, is starting with track 10 the bass oddly disappears.  It’s a stark contrast, and I’m not sure if the sound engineer fell asleep, or tracks 10-12 were thrown in at the end and were previous recordings, but either way it really kills the energy of the latter quarter of the album and was a very bad move.

The vocals are your standard semi-decipherable growl, with some higher pitched screams from vocalist Florian Gabriele that show off a pretty impressive range.  He even mixes in some Despised Icon-ish pig squeals on “Catharsis for the Fallen” and other tracks on here.  The aforementioned guitar work, and the speed at which it’s played, is actually quite impressive, while at the same time unoriginal.  You get a few solos, as in “Burden of the Flesh”, but the goals of this album is to do nothing but cause damage to your eardrums.  With the energy these guys bring, and the crushing breakdowns all pulled off with precision and backed by a beefy production, this is really an impressive debut.  If you’re a fan of Whitechapel (this was actually mastered by the same guy), I Declare War or Suffokate, this is a must listen (except for you JDH), and deathcore fans owe it to themselves to track this one down. 

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