Labels: Mind Rot
Review by: Alex Deller
This one caught my eye as the promo blurb mentioned Finnish death metal by way of NYHC. Kinda inevitable in a way since the “classic Swedish death metal sound” is mentioned on almost as many Bandcamp write-ups and press releases as Will Killingsworth, and hc kids like a change as much as anyone. While a Cro Mags-esque sense of belligerence is readily identifiable, alluding to the likes of Demigod, Demilich or Abhorrence might be a bit of a stretch since Skourge don’t possess the same sense of darkness or truly malevolent riffcraft. That’s not to say it doesn’t rage, however: the five tracks thump about in savage … and memorable … fashion, grinding windpipes underfoot as they pump out heavyset riffs and tales of mental anguish. A feral, backwoods-dwelling cousin to Power Trip isn’t too wide of the mark, and I imagine an album’s worth of material could well kill it.