Review Summary: Seething, spitting, screaming hatred for those who dare invoke her wrath.
She Demon wasn't always this way. A life of being a sexual violence victim turned her into who she is today: a person with only hate to give. Hate to the molesters who raped her, hate to the perverts of all kinds who groped her throughout life. At least, that’s how she paints herself on her debut album.
Musically, it hits a much needed sweet spot for slam death metal. It’s a great middle ground between the sloppiness and chaos of Artery Eruption, with the evil yet calculated nature of Devourment. It sounds like the loudest slam DM band recorded through the thin walls of an apartment. She Demon is also a varied vocalist, switching from ultra low gurgles to forceful screamo at times.
The bass deserves a mention, especially with how in the mix it is. It reminds me of Internal Bleeding’s debut. It’s clean, ultra downtuned, and always welcome. It adds a lot to the slow slam breakdowns, putting a ton of low end for the more bass-heavy songs. The whole production job is fitting for a project this raw. It’s always a little muffled, a bit inconsistent, but always raw and noisy at the end of the day.
There are pitfalls, such as the controversial subject of bass drops. Before, it was added to breakdowns for even more emphasis on the heaviness. Now it’s mostly overdone to kingdom come. She Demon is guilty of the latter a bit. Life No More has one of the most annoying bass drops i’ve ever heard in this subgenre, cleaving through the mix and rendering everything a bitcrushed mess for a few seconds. Another pet peeve is the fact she did not even normalize the album. It's a technique where all of the tracks are turned to the same volume to prevent listener confusion and/or ear damage. So basically, I’ll always lose hearing on Infested Wounds.
But the last two tracks turn the narrative. Sick is a doomy song with the nastiest basslines on the album. While it’s a little repetitive, it serves very well as buildup for the final track. Normally I find the trope of the emotional closer to be annoying at best, and contrived at worst (jabbing a finger at Convulsing). She Demon not only does it well, but it actually fits. Honestly, I don’t want to spoil it too much. All I’ll say is that it balances out brutality and emotional melodies to make a closer that knocked my socks off.
This album doesn't strive for too much. Its primitive brutality with genuine anger and rage as the strong spice. She Demon has been putting out a lot of music since this album, and I will be waiting for her next album. There’s a lot of aspects that could be blended or expanded on, but as is it’s a disjointed but uncompromising listen. Sure, there’s a few nitpicks. But I like where this is going.
