‘Slam’ Death Metal is one such sub-genre. It is the offspring of Goregrind and Death Metal. Epicardiectomy are one of the leading lights of this sub-genre. They are a Czech band who formed in 2007. They have released one full length album and a number of ‘Demos’.

Their latest offering ‘Deranged Self-Mutilating Emasculation’, is a self-released two track promo. It is packaged in a professionally printed digipack, and the quite disgusting artwork, has a rather deranged looking individual removing his own genitals (hence the title!). It is quite well done, and avoids falling into the the trap that many similar genre releases have e.g. amateur looking artwork and packaging, and adds an extra star to the final grade for this release.

The sound of the two tracks on offer here is pretty interchangeable. You have mid-paced ‘slams’ (the slow chugging section or breakdowns that most modern metal songs have these days) which are extended into full length tracks. The drumming is mid-paced ‘blasts’ with little variation, and sometimes it does sound a bit ‘tinny’, but that seems to be par for the course with ‘slam’ releases these days.

The vocals are your usual mix of inhales (sometimes exhales), ‘bree bree’ parts, pig squeals and gutturals. The lyrics (yes these songs have lyrics!), are a mixture of medical jargon (like ‘Carcass’), and the most violent images of murder, sex and mutilation that you can imagine. In other words the bread and butter of the ‘Slam’ scene!

Overall, we have a pretty solid release from ‘Epicardiectomy’. It is not as good as their full length from last year, but it is a good taste of things to come, and suggests that they have a promising future. I look forward to hearing what they do next!