Maul : " In The Jaws Of Bereavement"

 

This album clicked for me right away as it packs a powerful punch. Guitar melodies show they care about writing songs. North Dakota is not where I would expect this to come from but here we are. There is no shortage of head-banging grooves. This album makes a strong argument for having the bass prominent in the mix when it comes to death metal. The second song opens with a faster more technical thrashing riff, but they soon lock into the more deliberate attack that plays to their strengths. 

The vocals range from a gurgle to a more hard-core flavored spew. They also hit some breakdown-style riffs that show hard-core is certainly an influence. "Weaving Cerebral Horrors" starts with a good groove, but when they speed, it begins to sound like everything else. They return to the cool riff, which does lean in a more metal-core direction. I can hear Cannibal Corpse's influence in what they do, but they are not really paying tribute to the more expected forefathers of the genre like most bands do which is a relief. "Spontaneous Stigmata" runs off a powerful chug you can not resist headbanging to. The vocals are lower and more vicious. 

They relent and offer some creepy guitar to lead into "An Alluring Deciet' which is a little like one of Slayer's serial killer ballads. The growled vocals create more of their own sound with this. "Midwest Death" is a purposeful stomp. It's another head-banging essential. "Unbridled Delusions" rides a mid-tempo thrash riff for all its worth and manages to milk some more from it. There is more of a head-bobbing breakdown feel to "Stuck Stomped and Smeared". They gore grind into "With Each Voracious Lick:"  They maintain a relentless chug as the vocals go through a range of histrionics and growls. I will round this up to a 10 and see how it grows on me, I love how they cover such a wide range of death metal on this album.  It drops October 4th on 20 Buck Spin. 

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