Review Summary: A very brief masterclass on what makes brutal death metal so great.
Raw, claustrophobic production. In your face gutturals. Aggressive palm muted riffs, and carefully placed chugging breakdowns. Brutal death metal is a genre I love for its pure intensity, and one which is difficult to balance. So when I found out that this was done by one 16 year old in 1994, it blew my mind. Kevin Greenberg manages to impress with this demo.
Grey, the track, feels like you’re trapped with Kevin in his parents basement as he plays. The drums are muffled behind the loud guitar, but he plays it so well it still stands out. The gutturals feel very aggressive, which is impressive since it doesn't venture into deathcore territory. While the vocals are in front of the mix, it doesn't feel like it's overpowering the other instruments.
For Suspended In Time, the title track, it’s mostly the same as Grey in how it’s structured. Tasty drum fills, in your face vocals, and loud guitar. But he introduces a main melodic riff that really makes the chugging sections that much more punchy. Few brutal death metal bands do this, and never do it often enough. The way it cuts off suddenly feels quite fitting. I assume it’s not normally like that since the last 20 seconds or so are lost media.
This demo is very, very rare, and has the same level of fans. Kevin only sold/gave out the demo in his hometown of Oceanside, New York, and I'm sure it slipped through the cracks of all of the New York Death Metal coming out in the 90’s. I really think of what could have been if he made a second demo, or something longer than 6 minutes.
Recommended Tracks: Grey, Suspended in Time
