Mega thanks to Matt, from Dark Descent Records, for not only having one of the best underground record labels out there, but for also being such a cool dude.  This ep was a surprise that he sent me, I never heard of this Australian act, and San La Muerte plays a filthy dirty raw brand of death metal.  Think older Autopsy, Mental Funeral era to get an idea of the filth San La Muerte drums up.  ‘Splinters’ is the perfect example of this, beginning sludgy, galloping into a death thrash attack beat and the 3:30 section plods along which is total Autopsy worship in terms of its approach and doom death laden parts-heavy and just plain killer.  The singer squeals and growls and burps along with the music in brutal fashion and if you close your eyes, you will swear it’s Chris Reifert from Autopsy.  ‘Requiem Des Malheureux’, again plods along with Autopsy like heaviness and I love the way the bass guitar comes thumping in.  Be careful subwoofers, this sucker will shatter windows.

San La Muerte wastes little time in creating long songs, rather going for shorter songs that really create more of a punch in the face feel.  I felt transported to 1991 listening to this and the mixture of doom/death is fantastic and seamless.  Do not expect a crystal clear production with triggers all over the place.  The production is raw, but good, and for this type of music this is how the production should sound.

The band is a bit of a mystery, no pictures, no band names, cannot find much about who or how many members are in the band…guess that’s to add to the mysteriousness of the band.  I’ve heard some people complain about the album cover, calling it cheesy and stupid.  For me, I think it’s rather creepy and goes along with the theme.  Lyrics are included, as well.  This is a huge sleeper hit for me and there are not many eps out there that for 18 minutes you are slammed against a brick wall endlessly. Lipreading the Dead is strongly recommended, if you call yourself a real death metal fan.

[Visit the band's website]

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