Bride Of The Monster - A Slaughter Of Biblical Proportions
Self-released
Death Metal
9 songs (42:50)
Release year: 2010
Reviewed by Goat

Making the kind of depressing yet compelling racket you’d expect from a Death Metal band with that name, Bride Of The Monster have sadly now split up due to a financial argument, yet it’s worth supporting their investment in this by buying a copy from the MySpace, as A Slaughter Of Biblical Proportions is the kind of melodic yet rip-roaring Death Metal that should stand out in today’s overly-brutal scene. Not that this isn’t brutal music, as it is, but the band give the brutality room to breathe. They’ve apparently played with everyone from Deicide to Cryptopsy, and this mixture of influences has resulted in a groove-ridden gutclenching piledriver of an album, Rock-infused yet not actually Death N’Roll. Think mid-period Carcass meeting late Cannibal Corpse with mid-to-late Entombed and you’ve pretty much got it, although Bride Of The Monster are their own creation without a doubt.

Making sense of the carnage here will take a couple of listens, as songs are nice and complex and rarely do exactly what you expect. The likes of Frozen have an underlying technicality that props the upfront gore-ridden riffage well, and drummer Scrump always comes off well. Eternal Swine rips along with style, hidden melodies getting catchier and catchier with each listen, but it’s Hollow Cost where a real piledriving Aborted-esque blast comes to bear, switching to groovy rocking melody soon after with a great solo. The ten-minute Tripe follows, fortunately not living up to its name, and Malice follows – living fully up to its name! There’s a slight shift in quality downwards in the second half, which you can blame on the newer songs all being at the front of the album, although the later likes of Float (probably the closest track on the album to the aforementioned Death N’Roll) are just as much fun as the others.

Ultimately, A Slaughter Of Biblical Proportions isn’t quite as good as the name suggests, but it’s certainly worth your time. It’s a shame that the band split rather than explore this avenue further – a few rough edges smoothed, and this would have been an impressive debut full-length rather than a funerary farewell release. Alas, underground Metal is full of what-ifs.

MySpace
Killing Songs :
Eternal Swine, Hollow Cost, Frozen, Plague
Goat quoted 76 / 100
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