Review Summary: death metal familiar…
Among more death metal contemporaries I can’t help but find a natural enjoyment within
similar soundscapes. That’s vague, but imagine a world where the likes of Blood Incantation, Morbus Chron, Horrendous, Death and Gorguts are all one in the same. The old school mentality of the genre has been re-invented under a guise of new school, often shifting the sands of the genre’s more poignant forbears into guises more progressive or avant garde. Even as acts push on the boundaries there are those that noodle away under their own steam, occasionally losing the very cornerstone to which they find their sound’s specific footing. These acts, (like Alkaloid and Sweven) detach themselves from the acceptable ‘norm’ of the genre’s natural selection, often spurred on by the
need to innovate, explore or simply out-do their blast-beating brethren...with all sorts of galvanizing results.
In many ways, Swelling Repulsion’s
The Severed Path is the collective genetic make-up of the acts mentioned above. It has the simple minded brutality you’d expect of a death metal record tackling the usual nuance of blast beats, churning riffs and technically adept musicianship. Even the dual vocal efforts from the group’s two members (who hail from two different hemispheres) fit right into the niche as you would expect; fierce, primal roars cut above the cutting rhythms while leaving enough room for the saunter and groove of melody to intertwine with the expected ferocity. The compositional tropes of
The Severed Path largely feels like the cumulative genre-focus of the last few decades. The angular guitar passages found in the likes of “Enslaved” and “Shoot The Gap” reaffirm the genre’s efficacy, darting around guitar fills and embellishment while the typical growl and rasp of death metal eras are summarized in a number of tracks. Touches of Immolation and Gorguts are delivered with ample force, and yet Swelling Repulsion’s larger sound portrait only delivers its influenced edges, like an image not yet in focus—refusing to define its individuality or blatant plagiarism.
The Severed Path becomes too familiar, sounding complacent and safe.
At just under twenty five minutes,
The Severed Path isn’t at all an overbearing or long listen. It’s brevity also acts (in part) as a saving grace, but given that it takes the better part of three tracks to really get going there is a question of whether this act would benefit from more room to breathe or a greater use of its progressive influences. That aside, Swelling Repulsion’s 2021 effort is definitely stronger in the belly and is much of a musical ‘core’ (rather than leg day) workout as death metal is likely to get this side of Archspire. The lighter atmospheres introduced within “Labyrinth” provide ample room, both for the listener who’s been rather bludgeoned so far, but also for the band as they reintroduce their fundamental death metal motif. Because of this, both “Corridor” and the title track hit hard, sauntering through a chasmic groove and wandering melody. Of all
The Severed Path’s tracks, it’s here that Swelling Repulsion sounds at their most interesting and focused on the sound they
want to present. Whether it’s the deliberate pauses between the riffs of “Corridor” or the warbled progressions of “The Severed Path”, Swelling Repulsion do show glimpses of death metal greatness, as sparing as they may be.
Overall there’s very little wrong with Swelling Repulsion’s general makeup, but there is a lot of influence blending, some of which may not be deliberate. There’s no denying however, that
The Severed Path’s main pull is the familiarity to which the everyday death metal fan can rejoice in the similarities between other, more well-known acts. It’s an unfair summation for a group just trying to get its foot in the door of a genre already so saturated. As it lies, there’s really no putting this cat back in the bag.
