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Pentothal Sodium - Upon A Pile Of Bones
Released by: Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Releasing on: April 8th, 2014.
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This debut release from Italy's Pentothal Sodium from the every so subtlety named Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is a three track EP clocking in at over a half an hour in length.
The album starts off with an eleven minute barrage of brutality entitled They Lie. It starts off fast and aggressive with some grinding guitars and soon enough the cookie monster vocals kick in. The track gets heavier, doomier and a bit sludgier as it progresses, with a solid grinding rhythm underneath the crashing cymbals of the drumming. The bass gets a little buried in the mix here but if you play around with the levels on your system a bit you can get a bit more out of it on that level. As the track closes in on the ten minute mark it turns into full on doom, the music just pounds at a considerably slower pace and it basically buries you in sound.
Track two is Praise Your Will, clocking in at just shy of ten minutes in length. This one starts off with some buzzsaw guitar work that increases in the mix slowly with intermittent drums following suit. It actually creates a bit of tension as you know it's going to explode but you don't know when. Then around the one minute mark the drums go full force, almost out of kilter in a strange way. This continues and the guitar catches up with the rhythm section and the track gallops until the vocals kick in at which point it turns to sludge in a super heavy way. It builds a bit and kicks along nicely and then breaks into a really slow bridge about half way through. Don't let that trick you though, because just past the seven minute mark, once you've been lulled into that false sense of security, it's all systems go as this turns into a pretty blistering speed metal/thrash track as it basically blows up at the end.
The last of the three tracks on the album is Until Death, and it's just under eleven minutes in length. A bit of feedback and distortion kick this off and then there's some semi-decipherable screaming/talking while a guitar strums. Bass and drums kick in, staccato style, and then the track pounds about as fast as you could hope for. Cookie Monster vocals growl through the mix, hitting a delirious fever pitch, and the speed blasts give way to more rhythmic playing and the track segues into some mystifying doomy sludge. From here it goes back and forth between the band's doomier sound and what I guess you'd say is more traditional black metal/speed metal with liberal doses of grind thrown in to keep things interesting. As the track closes out and brings the EP to a finish, some Sabbath style bleak riffing sans vocals conjures up a bleak mood, the band wearing their at least one of their influences proudly on their sleeve to nice effect as things fade out to silence.
These guys play fast and loud and if this genre is your thing, you'll likely find this three track debut release an impressive one. What at first might sound like a sloppy noisy soon proves to actually be pretty skillful playing. The rhythm section anchors things well while the guitars go all out. The vocals are intense, if sometimes a bit overblown, and this band actually manages to create some interesting atmosphere with this release.
Check out their bandcamp page and check out a sample from the opening track below:
