Review Summary: new soil formed from the bodies of the dead
Ingested became pretty famous after the release of their debut record,
Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering. Lead single Skinned and ***ed was fairly typical slam fair; disgusting, throaty gurgles and inhuman, strangulated shrieks over groovy, bouncy riffs and unstoppable double bass kicks that bordered on the infuriating. A significant step in the commercialisation of brutal death metal, the album was roughly the same all the way through but displayed that the genre could be catchy, memorable and wholly satisfying to a wide range of fans, even those carrying suspicions about the genre’s dreadful reputation.
The sophomore album,
The Surreption, saw the band embrace more of a deathcore style with gang shouts, more metalcore-ish vocals that abandoned the low gurgles and saw the band aim for less shocking lyricism and more verse-chorus style structures. It was a significantly worse album with very few standout moments and only a couple of guest vocal spots from deathcore royalty to separate it from a generic debut by yet another identikit metal band. But then as the band disappeared amidst 2012’s very busy lineup of rising metal acts, Ingested began to lose a relevance they had barely grasped onto from the beginning.
So in 2013, it seems sensible to assume that a band like this would have nothing to offer but another generic slice of chuggy brutality. And you would be partly right in that because
Revered by No One, Feared by All is the band’s least remarkable record to date. With zero hype building up to it, the EP dropped upon fans with four brand new tracks, which embrace the typical slam elements (samples, double bass abuse, vocals that sound like a toilet and of course glorious riffs) in the same way that dozens of other bands have over the last five years. Since their debut, Ingested have merely become one with many of the bands they inspired, and their status as genre titans is in desperate need of renewal.
All that being said, this is a pretty fun record. Endgame is the best song here, unleashing some pretty creative riff work, pulverising beatdowns, and vocals so loud and intrusive that it’s impossible not to pay attention to them. The lyrics are diabolically bad, but with more varied drumming, audible bass and plenty of catchy vocal parts, it’s very easy to ignore its shortcomings. The other three songs aren’t quite as good but still pack endless amounts of meaty riffage into their relatively short time spans, and vocally are as impressive as ever before.
The band aren’t out to impress anyone, and this release is as generic as it gets, but at least the band now pack the sleek production job that their debut was always missing. They no longer stand out from the crowd like they did all those years ago, but as slam goes you could do a lot worse than dabble with a few of these tracks. It’s a shame that this genre (and this EP) gets boring so fast, and the predictability in such a comical genre renders it totally devoid of substance or character.
