Brutal, pustulant death metal from the (currently) frozen plains of Canada. To my mind Auroch merge the reasonably straightahead sound of Morbid Angel with the clamorous, chaotic murk of bands like Mitochondrion (with whom they share DNA), and the mix is a good one. Catchy, well-written and clearly-defined riffs crunch, pummel and interlock, facing off against the kind of dank, moody atmosphere that usually heralds some sort of cruel psychic invasion. This combination of the coherent and the inchoate serves Auroch well, leaving ‘Taman Shud’ an impressive, immersive death metal record that bludgeons in the first instance and adds demonic fistfuls of creeping dread at the edges.
