From the always reliable purveyors of fine vinyl, Halo of Flies, comes a repress of the second album from Germany’s Deathrite. It strays a little away from the label’s norm delivering less hardcore and a more crust/d-beat/grind/death metal assault that will appeal to fans of Trap Them, Enabler, Nails, Dead in the Dirt and Black Breath, hell, most of Southern Lord’s 2010-2014 roster for that matter ( the cover color scheme and logo is already a perfect fit).

Featuring a killer mid range buzz that hearkens to the classic tones of Entombed and Dismember, but with a menacing, crusty edge, Deathrite wrap that guitar tone up in a ball of razor wire tumbling down a hill sound that’s part chaos, part groove and all sneer. It’s a short, powerful release with ample moments of ferocious feedback driven noise and equal part meaty grooves .

The 31 minutes blazes by with furious intensity, but is never sheer chaos. The more impressive moments are the slower lumbering moments which allow the guitar tone to rattle your teeth such as the huge 5 minute instrumental title track which where the reverb of the mid range’s bottom end might actually rattle your teeth about 3 and a half minutes in. Other moments of impressive heft surface  in the likes of otherwise furious  “Breathing Doom”, ‘Kingdom”,”Failure of Existence” and closer “The Golden Age” which would have been right at home on Wolverine Blues.

For those with shorter attention spans, the likes of opener “Forsaken Tombs”, “Vicious Throne”,”Deathbed” and “Infernal Void” will satiate your need for a more scathing, skin peeling assault. But both facets of the band are well done but the star of the show here is the guitar tone, whether  it’s crusty blasts or girthy grooves, Deathrite look to be a nice European addition to the genre.

For a Halo of Flies release, the packaging is simple but fitting the release, I got a black vinyl single sleeve version- no double gatefold or gold monogrammed lyrics sheet (a la Hexis or Light Bearer) . This release lets the brutish music do the talking, and in this instance I’m fine with that.

[Visit the band's website]

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