Never To Arise – Hacked To Perfection (badGod music)

Hailing from Florida, the famous Sunshine State, death metal duo Never To Arise obviously pay no attention to the endorphin-raising properties of our brightest star. Their brilliantly-named debut album Hacked To Perfection is so incredibly dark I would believe them if they told me they were actually from seven miles below the darkest abyss, the dark, dark...you get the idea.

The duo of Gordon Denhart on vocals, guitar and drum programming and Mike Kilborn on guitar and bass parade their self-styled ‘blood and guts’ death metal paying great homage to both. Delightful track names such as Hyperbaric Torture Chamber, Snuff Film Superstar and Misgynistic Acts Of Barbaric Sadism bleed excitingly dark, angry noise.

The shared guitar work of Denhart and Kilborn is stunningly intricate and utterly devastating throughout. The lead breaks are electrifying and the blistering riffs of the verses are just as impressive. Denhart’s deep guttural growls and near-incomprehensible vocals fire at you in fuming blasts.

The artificial drums power Hacked To Perfection forward with, obviously, acutely precise devastation. There can be no doubt cast over Denhart’s expert programming but the absence of a real person making those crisp cymbal crashes is a great shame because there is so much feeling to the playing of the other instruments whereas the drum machine is a sometimes jarring, forced sound. Despite any misgivings over the drums, when you hear those sublime guitars all is forgiven.

Like a mutilated corpse, it ain’t pretty. Unlike a sliced cadaver, this is utterly heavy, angry and monstrously good stuff.

Hacked To Perfection is out now via badGod music.