Review Summary: Consume the Forsaken is 30 minutes of pure devastation that no death metal fan should miss out on.
Brutal Death Metal is a genre that most people can’t stand. Whether it’s the ridiculous vocals, the unoriginal riffs that totally rip off Suffocation, or even the muffled production, people always find ways to bash the genre constantly. Though most of the time I do not agree with these people, there are some undeniably horrid bands that make undeniably horrid albums in the genre that reek of absolute suck. Well, I am here to tell you Disgorge is not one of these bands, and Consume the Forsaken is not one of these albums. Yes, CTF does share a lot in common with any album by Suffocation, but the difference here is that Disgorge pull it off with such velocity and virtuosity that you will soon forget that these riffs could’ve been written by Terrence Hobbs himself. What sets CTF apart from the rest of the scene is that each song is memorable. The Brutal death genre is plague with bands that have no songwriting skills what so ever.
Disgorge easily manage to avoid this trend by writing technically proficient riffs that also contain a good amount of groove that listeners will want to hear again and again. With that being said, the guitar work on the album is nothing less than amazing. The guitarists clearly know what they are doing and execute with blistering speed and can change rhythm with little to no effort, and sounding awesome doing it. There are a very good number of tech riffs, as well as a good number of slow, slam breakdowns that are extremely crushing and devastate the listener. The drumming presented here is astounding; Ricky Myers puts on a very impressive performance and completely devastates his drum set in the process. Ricky’s technique makes excessive use of the drum pedal. The double bass on the album is quite sporadic, yet is so perfectly utilized in each song. As you might expect, the blast beats are ferocious and the snare sound is excellent. Myer’s proves to be a huge driving force on the album, and if any other drummer was presented instead, the album would just not sound as awesome as it does. A.J. Magna, who’s in charge of vocals, does a splendid job as well. Magna’s vocals are VERY low, guttural grunts that are somewhat reminiscent of a natural disaster occurring. His vocals are nothing but pure brutality, and are right where they need to be throughout each track. The lyrics are very satanic and anti Christian. Don’t worry, these aren’t your fun childish satanic lyrics ala early Deicide; this is thoughtful, interesting, and evil Christ bashing at its best. The bass on the album is about the only downside, as there isn’t much of one to be heard. Though this is slightly disappointing, the bass work is not sloppy and tends to sound very clean and does not detract the albums pure awesomeness.
This might be the album that changes your mind about BDM, and if it is, then you will most likely enjoy what most of it has to offer. If this album does not change your mind about BDM, then don’t bother looking any further, because this is some of the best straight up brutal death metal that exists in a genre where mediocrity is abundant. The bottom line is that this is first rate brutality, this is Consume the Forsaken, and this is elite.
Standout tracks:
Consume the Forsaken
Dissecting Thee Apostles
Perverse Manifestation
