Album Review: Reckless Manslaughter - Sinking Into Filth
Reviewed by Sam Jones
I really do enjoy encountering upcoming records by previously unfamiliar bands; in this instance that band is Germany’s Reckless Manslaughter who have churned out an impressive discography without it having once reached my own attention. Formed in 2008 out of the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s Reckless Manslaughter didn’t hang around before they got underway with material. Their first Demo was out by 2010 and their first record wasn’t far behind; Storm Of Vengeance was released just one year on, and this was quickly succeeded by 2013’s Blast Into Oblivion. The band have also undergone a few Splits with Obscure Infinity, Lifeless and Witchtower, and in recent years have collaborated with Scalpture and Depression, but soon Reckless Manslaughter released their third album, Caverns Of Perdition, in 2019, and it would end up being their last record for five years prior to the announcement of this very work. Now onto their fourth album, Sinking Into Filth looks set to be an uncompromising, barbaric release in the vein of old school death metal, especially propagated by cover artist Lucas Korte having created artwork for bands such as Inoculation, Malignant Altar, Nuclear Tomb, Oxygen Destroyer etc. Poised for an October 21st release window via Memento Mori, let’s take a look inside Reckless Manslaughter’s newest opus.
Though the band’s gravitas exudes vast quantities of strength I appreciate that speed isn’t the band’s first port of call when it comes to tempo. If anything, with the presence the band possess the steadier, and in places, slower performance they exhibit gives their songwriting much more weight. Since their songwriting is geared towards a crawling aesthetic as opposed to ripping into us, I’d argue our attention is doubly intensified because each note and chord and vocal utterance harbours more importance since the band aren’t choosing to merely race through this record. However, it’s not like the band are opting to slow down, or would rather play at speed and simply choose to keep themselves restrained; their songwriting and their comfort zone is clearly within the trawling, drudging pace they set themselves, and since they’re not rushing themselves it enables them and ourselves the time to digest their performance fully without feeling like we’re having to keep pace with a frantic tempo.
The vocals are arguably amongst the most impressive I’ve heard in a while, not because of their severity or the malice they imbue within their performance but because they really help keep the band, and the record, on level ground. Extreme metal is littered with vocal performances that can feel like they’re completely whisked away by the instrumentation, but Reckless Manslaughter saw to it their vocal deliveries, regardless how fast or steady the instrumentation becomes at whatever moment in the record, are always placed upon firm and concrete terrain so, whilst we’re enjoying the mad flurry that is their cinderblock chords and their blast beats, there’s always something to keep you grounded and focused on the band’s completely arsenal. Even should the vocals pick up the pace themselves, the baritone and controlled cadence the vocals have ensures you’re constantly engaged and never feel as if the album were escaping you.
The screaming advantage Reckless Manslaughter showcase, that separates them wildly from a plethora of underground acts, is how their guitar work always seems to be gunning to encompass us, as opposed to tearing straight into us. Though their pacing does pick up now and again, the general approach they take is to give each riff sequence de weight and presence so even when they’re unloading singular notes at us during a bridge or a lick, we know what the band are playing is crucial to the track in question. In addition, as the riffs hit us we know they’re not actively trying to maim us as we’ve covered, but they are looking to submerge us within an atmosphere. There’s nought special occurring to give their soundscape any particularly atmospheric gravitas, it’s purely down to their own performance that lends their sound this consuming, inescapable style. There aren’t any special tricks employed by the band; if it’s not vocals or anything the instrumentation can’t otherwise utilise then it’s not be found herein. Riffs may be bold and feel especially outlined within the mix but there’s just enough resonance left over after a chord is played that the residual strength proceeds, and bleeds, into the next piece.
Considering this is a work of old school death metal through and through, it surprises me just how well mixed together, and produced, this album is when you pay attention. The band have to balance vocals alongside this vast riffs, but then you realise the drums don’t share the same outright bass as the guitar work does. The blast beats and general drumming, and as the band adopt gravity blasts in their songwriting too, never falls into conflict with the rest of the band at any point. The band are capable of destroying us through the riffs whilst still enabling our attention to pick up and appreciate the acoustic drumming, even prior to the more extreme drumming techniques. Through my experience this is an absurdly tricky thing to pull off but the band have potentially discovered the perfect old school death metal aesthetic for 2024; we feel the retro element with ease but it’s massively bolstered by modern production standards. The band are able to separate each element of their sound individually yet can still bring it all together for an adept, seamless onslaught.
In conclusion, Reckless Manslaughter finish off their fourth full length work with a more than ten minute long piece, ending Sinking Into Filth with hideous fashion. The band on the whole do utterly nothing that we haven’t heard from an old school-styled band before a thousand times over. But it’s how the band have crafted this record, and their songwriting, that allows Sinking Into Filth to climb above the myriad of other bands releasing likeminded albums today. All the pitfalls and lacklustre elements that could be found in such a record aren’t to be identified, it’s as if the band went through every conceivable flaw old school death metal may possess in 2024 and ensured none of that was present. Nothing throughout this record breaks the wheel but it’s just so sublimely done that you don’t care that you’ve heard it over and again because the band are passionate and evidently worked hard on this release. It’s the kind of album that satisfies you so much you’re confident in visiting their back catalogue, which can only be a positive thing for Reckless Manslaughter. Old school death metal is sometimes tricky to get right, but these guys understand how to do it with ease.
