“A dense batch of catchy death metal that will hold you down and beat the shit out of your face until you aspirate on your own blood and teeth.”
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: December 21, 2017
Lineup: Dave Scruffo- vocals; Chris Creta- guitars; Mykel Dodson- bass; Armen Koroghlian- drums. Current live drummer- Matt Crismond.
Label: Independent/unsigned
Similar to: Dying Fetus, Man Must Die, Black Dahlia Murder
What can I say, I am biased here, because my band’s current drummer plays on this record and, holy shit, his performance is unbelievable. So, that declaration aside, I want to say that I am not gushing over this because of that alone. This is just an incredible album beginning to end. No filler. No bullshit, No bells and whistles. It’s a dense batch of catchy death metal that will hold you down and beat the shit out of your face until you aspirate on your own blood and teeth.
From the first note to the last there is not one single wasted moment, Everything serves a purpose. This recording is crystal clear and bare bones. Chris Creta does employ some subtle harmonies on the more melodic passages, but other than that this sounds like a tight, live band playing in the room right next to you. Everything is easily audible and accessible. Do you, dear readers, realize how rare this is? I’m not going to go on a rant about overproduction in metal, because I dig a lot of that over-the-top sounding music, but there’s something about a band playing this style which is usually overdone in the studio. Sometimes less is more.
The songwriting on Hard to Kill is elegantly simple. I know, it’s weird to consider a band as dirty and ragged as Corpse Hoarder as ‘elegant’, but the song structures are tried and true formulas that work in any style of music. Verse, chorus, repeat, bridge, solo, chorus, out, for the most part. The trick is that the riffs are so creative and catchy and the drumming so tied into them, it almost makes the album sound more technical than it is. The playing is airtight, but placed over song templates that every listener of music can relate to, consciously or not. Scruffo’s wildman screaming and growling viciously tears through the music, adding to the urgency and constant tension. Think of it as the melodic equivalent of a panic attack.
I can’t recommend this enough, even if death metal isn’t your thing. This album has amazing crossover appeal. Corpse Hoarder has a way of writing earworm riffs and and hooks that will have you mashing that play button again and again. Absolutely recommended.
Fuck avocados, 10/10 Philly Tacos and a shit on the floor.
Pick up Hard to Kill at Corpse Hoarder’s Bandcamp page, check out more Wacken videos and other hijinks on YouTube, and go give them a like on Facebook.
Tracklist:
- Anatolically Correct
- Bleed Between the Lines
- Into the Ground
- Circle of Eight
- Sins of the Father
- Release the Hounds
- Urine for Trouble
- Mutation of Mankind
- Experiment 242
- Hard to Kill