Album Review: Goreworm - Prodigy of the Grotesque
Reviewed by Neil Bolton
Formed in 2017 Ontario’s Goreworm have only one E.P. under their belt thus far. Since their inception Goreworm have cemented a strong line up, as well as playing the occasional live show Goreworm spent 2018 and 2019 writing and recording new material. Now this year we get to bathe in their technical death brutality for a full studio recording.
After appreciating the cover art work by Maxwell Aston, your head is smashed very quickly with blast drums, brutal vocals, fast and manic music. First track 'Abolish Mankind' shows you immediately the kind of band Goreworm are. They have a tendency to lean away from the European sound and embrace the more technical manic sounds of similar bands from across the pond. 'Disgraced Perversion' shows well the two vocal styles that Goreworm utilise in abundance, and as only Jesse Suess is credited with vocals it is he that need to be complemented in carrying off both these styles. Where other bands may go for two singers Jessy fills the role. There are guest vocals on 'Extreme Makeover : Facelift Edition' but this is not the norm. The drums on this track, in fact throughout the whole album, are both brutal and precise.
If we ever get back to live performances any potential pit athletes will need to limber up and stretch correctly before even thinking about keeping with the beats of this music. The appropriate hydration will need to considered too. There is a definite attempt to steer away from the melodic side of death meal in this album. While not bereft of melody completely it is well hidden behind thick walls of vicious riffs, brutal vocals and insane drum tempos. A style of metal that can be divisive at times, Goreworm have chosen their path and are sticking with it.
The final and title track from the album 'Prodigy of the Grotesque' has a calming keyboard intro that you know will soon lapse into technical explosion you have been waiting for. You will know within moments if this album is for you of not. If you enjoy any sample you might have managed to catch you will be happy with the whole outcome, dirty, fast brutal and exhausting.
'Prodigy of the Grotesque' is released via CDN Records on June 12th.
