Artist: Vermin
Title: Define : Divine
Type: Album
Label: Deity Down Records

Death metal has had a fine year in 2009 and with it comes the first of a couple of thrillers from Deity Down Records. The Dutch version of Vermin specialise in brutally sadistic death metal but add that modern deathcore bounce at various well placed points for melody and, let’s face it, to appeal to a younger, less fickle, audience. The opening long intro of ‘Inferiorganism’ begins ominously with a deathcore chug riff which is quickly brushed aside with an excellent riff change and blast work. As the track progresses a humungous Paganizer style riff bursts in ready for the title track to cleave your head off. The band keep it simple and nasty as the drop in pace gives those hints of modern death metal with a tinge of core, including some mini bass bombs.

The bass drum sound is a touch clicky for my liking and lacking power but the vocals are as guttural as they come on ‘Imminent Perfection’. Vermin don’t stick to one style of death metal, making them a bit different than the run of the mill pulverising you often get in today’s death metal. The band has a knack of blending good old fashioned Swedish carnage akin to Deranged ferocity but mixed up with Cannibal Corpse technicality on ‘Synthetic Reality’. The first stand out track in the form of ‘I Walk Among You’ appears which begins with a dirty death doom riff and spoken vocals and a similar menace that Cannibal Corpse displayed on ‘Gallery Of Suicide’. The slow double bass kick increases the menace as the song suddenly ups the pace to blast speed. A huge beatdown core riff is employed here which fairly and squarely adds variety to the song and fits aptly.

‘Nucleus’ mixes it up further with a more technical angle with alternating vocal styles similar to Aborted and an equally catchy edge with tons of Converge like guitar effects. Vicious is an understatement as the album manages to meld melody and brutality on ‘Surrounded By The Silent’ which uses the modern deathcore slam that bands like Despised Icon, Black Dahlia Murder and JFAC use so effectively. Traditional death metal resurfaces on ‘The Inner Anomaly’ with powerful double bass work and again a similar style to mid era Aborted but with a supremely accomplished lead. The closing instrumental of ‘Supremechanism’ is a sludgy sinister affair with sporadic blast beats and a deep cavernous bass sound. This is worth investigating even with the plethora of quality death metal releases this year. Plenty to gnaw your incisors on.

www.verminband.nl
www.myspace.com/verminnl

Martin Harris

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