Their inspiration may come from the 80’s, the heyday of Death Metal, but This Is Endless make the sound their own by adding a modern and brutal twist; a hugely engaging mix of Brutal Death Metal and Hardcore. Their debut studio album ‘Formations of a World Below’ is undoubtedly much anticipated, after their excellent 2016 EP ‘Inherit The Sin’, which boasted a guest appearance of Biohazard’s Bobby Hambel.
Words: Jools Green
This Is Endless – Formations of a World Below (Endless Records)
Release Date: 14 August 2020
That they can enlist the talents of the likes of Bobby on a debut EP, suggests correctly that this is going to be a work of merit, so there should be no surprises to hear the line-up is drawn from members of Voices, Ted Maul, Dripback, Dead Beyond Buried and Onslaught, and includes Peter Benjamin (Voices) and Perry Mason (Onslaught).
A brutal and seasoned pedigree that delivers the goods in practice as it promises in theory, because as we have all seen in the past, with other bands, this does not always follow.
They have certainly set a good balance between Death Metal and Hardcore, cherry picking the best elements and melding them into an engaging, exhilarating and atmospheric listen, with Death Metal growls alongside Hardcore style chants and groove rich Hardcore breakdowns alongside ferocious Death Metal guitar work.
Opening with ‘Skin Cyst’, with its superbly ominous, building opener, gives that feeling of stepping into the unknown then…. BAAM!! A crescendo of drum work and groovy Heavy riffs heralds the arrival of over thirty minutes of head nodding air punching delight.
It has a pace that is beautifully convoluted across the whole release, ebbing and flowing in a very organic but unpredictable manner, all the way to anthemic and punchy hardcore closer ‘As I Suffocate’.
With most tracks construct fitting somewhere into the Death Metal and Hardcore range, with ‘Creature Of Habit’ and ‘Back To The Soil’ steering a little closer to Death Metal and just to throw you off kilter, midway, there is ‘Noise Track’, an intriguing interlude which is exactly as its title suggests, an amalgamation of eerie sinister distorted noises. Bizarre, yet fascinating.
Recorded by legendary producer Russ Russel, ‘Formations of a World Below’ is out on Endless Records, available via all major streaming platforms.
But I do not think it will be long before it gets snapped up and put out as a physical copy.
It is that brutal-iciously good.
