(After a scholastically forced absence from NCS, TheMadIsraeli returns with a review of the latest album by Italy’s Subhuman.)
Celebrate NCS readers. My time in the corrupt prison of academia is over. I can write about shit that’s fucking metal again.
Subhuman are a somewhat long-running savage death-thrash band from Italy, and if you’ve been following us, you know Oblivion guitarist Ted O’Neill has been telling us about how awesome Italy is right now in producing music that’s all things brutal. It’s finally my turn to get on board with something of substantial value, and that is Tributo Di Sangue.
In my estimation, we’ve had few releases this year that comprise the sheer adrenaline rush this album delivers. That isn’t to say that albums without the adrenaline rush haven’t been good, but it’s refreshing, always, to have something this straight-forward amidst what else is out there. This is exactly just death-thrash. If you like Hatesphere, Dew Scented, or Vader, then this is up your alley for sure. It’s up mine.
The music of Subhuman is a torrent of double-bass-saturated, blast-beat-intense drumming, razor-sharp riffing with Exodus swagger, Decapitated ferocity, and Vader-esque war-making intensity, accompanied by vocals of in an old school Obituary/Death/Pestilence vein.
From the opening notes of “Nutrimi Ancora”, it’s like being soaked in a splash of gasoline and lit on fire. It’s an absolutely blazing affront of iron-curtain-ripping venom that hits hard with technically adept precision-guided thrash. I’m not sure who plays the solo’s on this album, but whoever it is knows how to tickle my fancy, as he channels an immense Alex Skolnick vibe in his style. What is evident, however, is that guitarists Matteo Buti and Elia Murgia know what a good riff sounds like.
Second track “L’Atrococe Scommnessa” immediately changes gears to a more groove-oriented bent. The main riff of this song, I’m not gonna lie, fucking rules in its churning simplicity. It has thrash attitude in spades.
This album mostly tends to stay in the fucking fast-as-fuck territory though, which is more than welcome with me. The next three songs “Fassaborto”, “In Memoria di Me”, and “Il Tuo Nome e Jack” are M60 kinds of desecrating, eviscerating, and decimating assaults. “Tutti I Vizi del Presidente” is a short badass instrumental that has a lot of Nevermore vibes in the rather serpentine riffing that leads into “Il Vecchio Bastardo MMXII”, another balls-to-the-wall thrasher.
Overall it’s a good album, and one that can be reviewed succinctly; I felt starting with something brief was needed as a way to usher everyone back into the realm of my wise opinions.
http://www.facebook.com/subhumanmetal/
http://subhuman.bigcartel.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/subhuman
One Response to “SUBHUMAN: “TRIBUTO DI SANGUE””
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Adrenaline was a great word to describe this.
I feel like doing pushups now. With my nipples.