Here is a quick riddle. What starts with V, ends with E and has four letters in it? Vile and Vore – two up-and-coming American death metal bands nobody knows about. Colin Davis, we meet again, as Vile’s bandleader mixed and mastered Maleficus, the latest Vore album (BTW, Colin, good luck on that European tour!).

I have always been a do-it-myself kind of guy, in more ways than one, so I have a ton of respect for what Vore is doing. Not bowing to the trends, these good ol’ boys from Fayetteville, Arkansas, are seeding and plowing their death metal harvests themselves, album after album, with Maleficus being no exception. Who needs puny label support, especially if it means changing the modus operandi?

In the days when death metal is beginning to be measured up by who drums faster and whose cookie monster vocals are scarier, Vore flies in the face of the trend. Mid-tempo, with nary a blast beat on the album (a little here and there on the track title opener and Wrath Wrought Ruin), perhaps not overly technical either, Vore simply strap you to the chair and devastate you with the all-mighty RIFF. And, as Martin Popoff used to say, Riff Kills Man!

Superbly rhythmic, with snappy pulsating bass and rolling drums, Vore just keep coming, song after song, the train of Wrath Wrought Ruin followed by a churning machine of Fall Unto Chaos. Nothing here pummels with speed, but Maleficus ravages the soul and wrecks the neck no less. And just before things start to drag Vore mixes things up by throwing a rope of a lead at the end of Threshold of Empowerment or dark acoustic string instrumental Ashes. To further the variety, the band uses two vocalists, one with low guttural growls, and another with higher pitch yelp. Hey, if you are no Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) or Maurizio Iacono (Kataklysm), there is no shame in two guys contributing.

The groove on Maleficus is humongous and, as the players do not do anything on the album they can’t reproduce themselves, Vore must really go over well live. Production, clear and crunchy, when cymbals reverb from the strikes, is used to enhance, not to cover up.

My two personal favorite tracks are The Line That Divides and Misery Embrace. The former is simply a Soundtrack to Mashing Your Enemy’s Face In with a wicked opening riff. I have been forcing my guys at work to listen to this song before they need to do any heavy lifting.

With heaviness of Candlemass, dedication of Obituary and darkness of Immolation, Vore also has single-mindedness and consistency of Bolt Thrower. I betcha’ this bunch is not going to abandon its ways. Check them out.