I first came across Manchester’s Ingested a few years ago supporting Napalm Death and enjoyed their performance though wasn’t thrilled at the time. Arguably the band was one of the first to use the slam death technique that is often vilified by death metal purists but me I like the approach even if it is down tuned aural thuggery that lacks technicality of any form. The bands debut album (“Surpassing The Boundaries Of Human Suffering”) was an assaulting annihilation of slamming death metal that I enjoyed tremendously and came across great in the live environment especially for the hand waving aficionados.
A couple of years later and we have the new album and it is possible that this may curry more favour with death purists though the emphasis on slam is definitely there. What we get generally from the Ingested dudes is a mix of savage blasting death metal with punctuated slam riff techniques for melody and bounce. I am glad the band has toned down the clicky snare sound from the debut as I felt it was far too clinical and lacked the organic power that most death metal bands opt for. Opening the album is “Crowning The Abomination” and immediately you’re greeted by a double bass demolition that is quite similar to Cerebral Bore’s latest offering. The blurring double bass continues on “Decline” as the vocals shift down at least a thousand octaves in tone, they’re that deep, but at least we don’t get pig grunts and squeals a facet of this style I do not like one iota.
The ultra brutality shows scant mercy on “The Consequence” nor does it let up on “A Coming Unperceived” though the latter contains some groovy riffing and beats. Slamming is the name of the game with Ingested and each song is fair game for the style with “This Disgusting Revelation” being a crushing example of how to blend all out fury with bulldozing rhythm. “Manifesting Obscenity” is a beast of a song with vocal gurgling of the lowest order. The slam template remains rigid until the closing two tracks of “The Alpha” and “Omega”, the former being a typical Ingested song that leads straight into the latter. This is a surprising song that builds excellently as a melodic death metal song with a lingering lead that is sinister and ominous feeling, right before the injection of snare blast that rescinds back for a slower more thoughtful beat that again builds very well. This is probably the bands calmest song to date and I hope the band decides to play it live and prove to the die-hards that Ingested do indeed have what it takes to be a top notch death metal outfit and if they accent their songs with slams then so fucking what to coin The Anti-Nowhere League phrase.
http://www.myspace.com/ingesteduk
