EP Review: Munitions – Remote Death

EP Review: Munitions - Remote Death
Reviewed by Eric Clifford

The banded willow tarantula (delectamentum ano, in taxonomic terms) is a species of arachnid notable for, amongst other things, a highly aggressive temperament, nomadic behaviour, year-round activity, and venom said to be comparable in pain to slamming one’s testicles in a car door. With a legspan up to 15 centimetres across, and it’s active hunting style, the spider is often seen darting from one space to another at high speeds in search for prey. Human development has proven a boon to the spider, which can frequently be found lurking in any convenient household crevice; quick to bite and prone to immediate and unprovoked attack, the banded willow is responsible, cumulatively, for more fatal bites than any other comparable candidate, especially on the elderly or very young. The animal seems to have no inhibitions about mounting repeated and frenzied assault upon prey many times it’s size, and will quite happily attack humans. In one particularly nauseating incident, a banded willow was observed to have crawled inside the rectum of a sleeping man and savaged his prostate from within, hence the nickname amongst arachnophiles of “the rectum nibbler”. The man was rushed to hospital, whereupon the spider fell out of his anus and made war upon the hospital staff, who finally bludgeoned it to death with a fire extinguisher.

Now, all of the above is of course total bullshit, but had I told you that this spider was Australian, would you have been so sure I was lying?

Munitions are Australian, which is relevant because they certainly sound as though they’ve grown up surrounded by unreasonably evil wildlife. This EP presents something of a dichotomy however; the first two tracks speak of the cream of early 2000’s to modern day death metal, heavy influence plucked from the likes of Aborted and The Black Dahlia Murder, even a good chunk from latter day Cannibal Corpse. The last two tracks differ substantially though, going for an epic sweep more reminiscent of God Dethroned, early Kataklysm or perhaps even the harsher fringes of metalcore – Heaven Shall Burn perhaps. That the two approaches never really coalesce is true, but when both styles are done as well as they are there’s limited room to mount a counteroffensive on the apocalyptic martial pummelling that “...And This is How You Die” obliterates you with. For “Remote Death” doesn't just start playing, no, it unleashes. Somewhere in the calm before the storm sparks flare among the tinder; armageddon beckons. A barrage of blastbeats announces the arrival of the war machine, a kinetic beast of chugging, shrieking, and nimble solo work, some belching iron juggernaught churning cadaver-strewn earth before it. The kick/snare interplay with a demented thrash riff near the midsection is an auditory curb stomp; yet the ravaging persists. Perhaps scenting survivors, the band resume fire with incandescent ferocity. Discontented with a mere high explosive hemicorporectomy, the war machine reverses, treads flattening you from tail to tip till ruptured guts burst spurting from your mouth. If the thrash elements were...unsubtle on the previous song then they are at you with the bayonet here. This is what i’d always hoped for from slayer when Kerry reached for the downtuned guitar; percussion like rolling thunder heralds further vicious beatings; god help you from there, as scything shredwork and a riff like a battering ram pulverise what’s left of you.