Album Review: LIVING WITH DISFIGUREMENT - Thrill to the Terror of Death EP (2009)

Living With Disfigurement - 3 British death metal freaks who describe themselves as "sickening oldschool gore metal", a description that is accurate but misleading at the same time. This is the funnest music I've listened to in a long while. What you expect is loud, harshly produced goregrind, but what you get is fun, groovy, crushing old-school death metal.

Sometimes, the difference between a good band versus a band that sucks, is the vocals. Living With Disfigurement do not disappoint at all in the vocals department, quite the contrary. We often don't notice how awesome it is to have varied vocals, highs and lows taking turns, as opposed to the same kind of growls being repeated over and over again. Listening to this album proves this point. The song-writing and vocal composition on this is simply brilliant. The guitarist/lead vocalist takes care of the heavier parts with his low grunts, and the bassist provides almost black metal-esque highs over the lighter parts.

Make no mistake about it, these men can play their instruments. I always eargasm when I hear the neo-classical guitar solo in "The Dissemination of Human Suffering". In fact, there are melodic, well-thought-out solos throughout the EP, and I couldn't be happier about it. With just 3 members in the band, you pretty much have to give them all equal exposure, which works out perfectly because another great thing about Thrill to the Terror of Death is the prominent bass guitar, one of the reasons for that thick, groovy sound. The other reason is the drummer, who sometimes single-handedly progresses the songs with his endless array of varied, crushing drum beats.

People who are sick of the decibel overkill in modern metal will love this EP because of its relatively "soft" production. Don't worry, the music is brutal as fuck most of the time, but the difference is that it does not give you a headache. I have gone to bed listening to this EP a number of times. True story.

People of Britain, applaud this band, and make them big so we have a full-length soon. I just took off half a point because the album is too short.

And so The Malevolent Jester hath decreed.