Vomitor – The Escalation
Australia’s Vomitor revives the great mid-rangy guitars and soaked-in-reverb vocals of early ’80s death/thrash with a professionalism – and, dare I say, a sense of a good time – that steamrolls the efforts of younger disciples of that much-beloved time period of heaviness. With Death Dealer (ex-Gospel of the Horns) on the vox and riff-slinging, the stalwart anvil-slamming of Hellkunt (ex-Bestial Warlust) keeping the time, and Anton Vomit’s low-mixed yet still impressive basswork, The Escalation doesn’t promise pain as a weaker claim to being a ‘Metal of Death’ record would; no, Vomitor delivers said pain via a sonic sucker-punch to the gut. Vomitor’s latest would be perfectly at home in the mailbox of a tape-trading fanatic in the days when patched jean jackets were a (relatively) new thing, and is no less potent in the here and now for it. We old-timers would simply have marvelled at how cleanly the 16th notes were played (imagine an OCD, Show No Mercy-era Kerry King on crack, joining Possessed onstage), and how effortlessly the drums remain behind them, despite the (old-school) quickness of the material. And though no trace of smiles can be found amongst the subject matter on Vomitor’s most recent pile of putridity, I can’t deny my powerful urge to stack a pyramid of bad-tasting canned beer while listening to it. I attribute this compulsion to DD and HK’s sheer adoration and careful reinvention of songwriting and production styles of the early days, reproduced herein so very well. These Aussies’ ability to craft something their own in such a restricted framework personifies dedication and inspires a certain drunken mischievousness in the vein of, say, Paul Newman cutting the heads off parking meters, without the existential crisis. Inebriated or not, yesterday or today, Vomitor will kick your ass in the best way. Pure, unadulterated Metal, for the true believers and diehards only. And that’s how they would want it. -Jim
Hells Headbangers
Worm Gear 