If you'll allow me to go off topic a little, this one is a bit more personal. While Zach Scott was making his way into the music industry he took a lot of different roles, one of which was writing for this publication. He was a passionate writer and we struck up a friendship but ultimately his focus turned to making music and the band that he founded, Beyond Extinction.
I totally understood his decision to move more in creating music than writing reviews and I wished him all the best and started following Beyond Extinction to see where they would go. There was a lot of noise around them, they rapidly started to ascend the ranks but then the unthinkable happened and Zach passed away aged only 20 in 2023.
This hit those who knew him very hard, of course, and I can't even imagine how his loved ones felt but even those of us who were only in his peripheral were still shocked by the unfairness that someone so talented and so young was no longer around. For the band there must have been a temptation to put it to rest, to move on, but Beyond Extinction decided that Zach's legacy had to continue and that their ascension would be in tribute to their fallen brother.
So with Danny Russel joining on guitar the Essex based band have channelled their collective pain into creation of their debut album Where They Gather, which is a an absolute monster of a record from start to finish, a dystopian, Orwellian nightmare set to disgusting, demolishing modern death metal that suffocates you with intense breakdowns, blistering blast beats and a nihilistic world view where the riffs are used to bring devastation on tracks such as the angular Seven Spears and the mechanical assault of Mansions Burning On Bleak Horizons.
Like their previous EP, Where They Gather is a concept, the final human metropolis which makes Judge Dredd's MegaCity One look like the village in All Creatures Great And Small, fascist oppression around every corner and the last bastion of humanity trying and mostly failing to survive. This storyline of self assured destruction, closes with the technically brutal U-235, an instrumental that is chaotic as it is virtuoso, perfectly befitting of the element that is vital to the atomic bomb.
The lyrical thread was inspired by vocalist Jasper Harmer's late night walks through London and how the city at night built the sort of revulsion that oozes out of Winter Sun and Traitors To The Ropes. Where They Gather was built through suffering and heartache, by reflecting this with their music they connect intimately with the listener, though merciless modern deathcore.
Rest In Power Zach, your boys done good! 9/10
Dying Wish - Flesh Stays Together (Sharptone) [Matt Bladen]
The album artwork for Flesh Stays Together is very provocative, involving plastic bags and blood red lips, it's an image that very much reflects the music Dying Wish create, politically charged, beatdown heavy hardcore with a brain, writing songs about the constant suffocation we have around us, choking anyone who seems to have a differing opinion to death.
This Portland band have been causing their own brand of chaos since the late 2010's but since the pandemic they have really upped their output, releasing a record in 2021, 2023 and now 2025. This speed of recording probably bolstered by the band having a lot to say about the state of the world.
I genuinely believe there been no better time to be a political hardcore band, we're at our most divided in decades and species and that always translates into the most visceral, vicious and often most personal music, which is what we have with their third album Flesh Stays Together.
The band, Emma Boster (vocals), Pedro Carrillo (guitar), Sam Reynolds (guitar), Jon Mackey (bass), and Jeff Yambra (drums), have all matured as people and as songwriters and that shows on this record. They strike at the heart of racism, genocide, fascism and discrimination as band who have lived through all of these things.
It's metalcore without the fear of experimentation, the entire ethos of the record was to sound as derelict and downbeat as they could, a record without hope, one that increases the heaviness of the band outright but also adds more clean vocals to the animalistic screams on tracks such as Heaven Departs.
It's claustrophobic at times, like the world is collapsing around you but with Moments I Regret and the title track, they slip into something more melodic, though this isn't redemption, just acceptance in another form, their evolution as a band can be charted in the same way a band like Knocked Loose have adapted metalcore/hardcore into their own thing, Dying Wish do something similar the production of Will Putney giving Flesh Stays Together a similar tonality to the Kentucky act.
Boster says that "there’s an underlying theme that God has abandoned us”, a knowingly provocative statement that is echoed throughout America's marginalised communities such as the non-white, queer and disabled. However the band don't offer solace, this isn't an album of answers, it one that wallows in it's misery, hinting that the possibility of "do unto others" would never ring true as the divisions grow larger.
Come wallow and be bludgeoned by the emotive heaviness of these hardcore lifers as Dying Wish hang on to the last shreds of their own humanity with album number three. 9/10
Abraded - Ethereal Emanations From Chthonic Caries (Redefining Darkness Records) [GC]
After reading up on Abraded, I noticed that it says Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries was originally recorded back in the olden days of 2017 and then remixed and remastered in 2024, but technically this is a new album being released this year? I don’t even know where to begin with all that confusion, so I will just get on with listening to it.
Ethereal Emanations leaves little time to be confused and comes straight for you with a disgusting sounding grindcore beating, it is unrelenting in its violent approach and the production is brilliant and highlights every single vicious sound perfectly, the only slight niggle is the snare drum sounds a bit too tinny in places but it’s a small annoyance.
This hit those who knew him very hard, of course, and I can't even imagine how his loved ones felt but even those of us who were only in his peripheral were still shocked by the unfairness that someone so talented and so young was no longer around. For the band there must have been a temptation to put it to rest, to move on, but Beyond Extinction decided that Zach's legacy had to continue and that their ascension would be in tribute to their fallen brother.
So with Danny Russel joining on guitar the Essex based band have channelled their collective pain into creation of their debut album Where They Gather, which is a an absolute monster of a record from start to finish, a dystopian, Orwellian nightmare set to disgusting, demolishing modern death metal that suffocates you with intense breakdowns, blistering blast beats and a nihilistic world view where the riffs are used to bring devastation on tracks such as the angular Seven Spears and the mechanical assault of Mansions Burning On Bleak Horizons.
Like their previous EP, Where They Gather is a concept, the final human metropolis which makes Judge Dredd's MegaCity One look like the village in All Creatures Great And Small, fascist oppression around every corner and the last bastion of humanity trying and mostly failing to survive. This storyline of self assured destruction, closes with the technically brutal U-235, an instrumental that is chaotic as it is virtuoso, perfectly befitting of the element that is vital to the atomic bomb.
The lyrical thread was inspired by vocalist Jasper Harmer's late night walks through London and how the city at night built the sort of revulsion that oozes out of Winter Sun and Traitors To The Ropes. Where They Gather was built through suffering and heartache, by reflecting this with their music they connect intimately with the listener, though merciless modern deathcore.
Rest In Power Zach, your boys done good! 9/10
Dying Wish - Flesh Stays Together (Sharptone) [Matt Bladen]
The album artwork for Flesh Stays Together is very provocative, involving plastic bags and blood red lips, it's an image that very much reflects the music Dying Wish create, politically charged, beatdown heavy hardcore with a brain, writing songs about the constant suffocation we have around us, choking anyone who seems to have a differing opinion to death.
This Portland band have been causing their own brand of chaos since the late 2010's but since the pandemic they have really upped their output, releasing a record in 2021, 2023 and now 2025. This speed of recording probably bolstered by the band having a lot to say about the state of the world.
I genuinely believe there been no better time to be a political hardcore band, we're at our most divided in decades and species and that always translates into the most visceral, vicious and often most personal music, which is what we have with their third album Flesh Stays Together.
The band, Emma Boster (vocals), Pedro Carrillo (guitar), Sam Reynolds (guitar), Jon Mackey (bass), and Jeff Yambra (drums), have all matured as people and as songwriters and that shows on this record. They strike at the heart of racism, genocide, fascism and discrimination as band who have lived through all of these things.
It's metalcore without the fear of experimentation, the entire ethos of the record was to sound as derelict and downbeat as they could, a record without hope, one that increases the heaviness of the band outright but also adds more clean vocals to the animalistic screams on tracks such as Heaven Departs.
It's claustrophobic at times, like the world is collapsing around you but with Moments I Regret and the title track, they slip into something more melodic, though this isn't redemption, just acceptance in another form, their evolution as a band can be charted in the same way a band like Knocked Loose have adapted metalcore/hardcore into their own thing, Dying Wish do something similar the production of Will Putney giving Flesh Stays Together a similar tonality to the Kentucky act.
Boster says that "there’s an underlying theme that God has abandoned us”, a knowingly provocative statement that is echoed throughout America's marginalised communities such as the non-white, queer and disabled. However the band don't offer solace, this isn't an album of answers, it one that wallows in it's misery, hinting that the possibility of "do unto others" would never ring true as the divisions grow larger.
Come wallow and be bludgeoned by the emotive heaviness of these hardcore lifers as Dying Wish hang on to the last shreds of their own humanity with album number three. 9/10
Abraded - Ethereal Emanations From Chthonic Caries (Redefining Darkness Records) [GC]
After reading up on Abraded, I noticed that it says Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries was originally recorded back in the olden days of 2017 and then remixed and remastered in 2024, but technically this is a new album being released this year? I don’t even know where to begin with all that confusion, so I will just get on with listening to it.
Ethereal Emanations leaves little time to be confused and comes straight for you with a disgusting sounding grindcore beating, it is unrelenting in its violent approach and the production is brilliant and highlights every single vicious sound perfectly, the only slight niggle is the snare drum sounds a bit too tinny in places but it’s a small annoyance.
Menticide slows down slightly to begin with and you almost welcome the respite because when it kicks back in it is just fucking savage, the guitars are scathing the drumming is unreal and the vocals have a force behind them that make you wonder if everything is ok at home! Wonderful stuff!!
Uroboric Incest gets a more death metal influence introduced into the grinding brutality and it’s a wonderfully chaotic and punishing listen, that really challenges you to keep listening as you wonder if they can keep this up all the way through and they really do, they just keep pushing you and themselves with each passing minute and its already been one hell of a ride!
Collectivized Enmeshment continues with the brutal barrage of disgusting noise and when trying to think of who to compare them to I get 3 distinct (and legendary) names, early era Carcass, early era Pig Destroyer and Insect Warfare are all names that you could use to describe Abraded and I don’t say that lightly, these guys are pushing you as hard as they can and really hark back to a gloriously raw and unhinged sound that made the mixing of grind and death such a vital sound,
Compensatory Contrarianism doesn’t take its foot of the pedal and even manages to insert a Nailbomb-esqe vibe into proceedings, if you think I’m just dropping in names for fun I’m not I am trying to really portray just how good this thing sounds, it is ridiculously good and has not once sounded weak or boring its is just urgent, vital, heavy and everything you want from this style of music!
Theonemesis absolutely cascades from the speakers and just surrounds you in a wave of gloriously raw sounding violence that just never lets up, the speed can drop slightly in places but never that much and even when it does you can’t help but just take it all in as it all has such a force behind it that you almost don’t know what to do with yourself.
Mass Formation Psychosis just leaves me grinning form ear to ear, it’s not changing anything sound wise and it really doesn’t need to because it is just the perfect mixture of everything I love, extreme speed, savage vocals and pure unbridled brutality, there is seriously not one second so far that has been wasted time, its been just about as perfect as you can get!
Cthonic Caries is probably the most death metal sounding track on the album and that not to say its basic, it just feels stripped back and more thought out until of course they unleash hell about halfway through but it never strays too far from the death metal focus and its almost a relief as it give you a bit of breathing time as its all just been so much to take in so far, in the best possible way of course!
Theodicy is probably my least favourite track as the first section is very slow old school death metal and the grinding parts are slightly clumsy in places which dulls the force of it and I’m not sure what the vocalist is trying on this track but it doesn’t sound right at all and it’s probably a couple of minutes too long for its own good and a strange choice as the album closer, can’t have it all I guess, but despite this I 100% refuse to let anything dampen what has been an utterly phenomenal listen.
Holy shit! I am speechless here! This album has floored me completely, I was not expecting Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries to be this good, I was expecting maybe a slight surprise as I had never heard Abraded before but seriously? This? It’s as close to my perfect sounding album as is possible to be, completely savage and unhinged at every turn, no room for subtlety or tact, it is just full force nastiness all the way and unapologetic brutality from minute one!
Holy shit! I am speechless here! This album has floored me completely, I was not expecting Ethereal Emanations From Cthonic Caries to be this good, I was expecting maybe a slight surprise as I had never heard Abraded before but seriously? This? It’s as close to my perfect sounding album as is possible to be, completely savage and unhinged at every turn, no room for subtlety or tact, it is just full force nastiness all the way and unapologetic brutality from minute one!
This was an unbelievable record and any fans of grindcore and death metal should really do anything they can to listen to this record because there will be no regrets! 10/10
Last Retch - Abject Cruelty (Time To Kill Records) [GC]
It seems like ages since I last reviewed a death metal album, it wasn’t, it was last month but it felt like ages ago, this was also a bit of a blessing because as if I am 100% honest it was all getting a bit samey and nothing was really blowing me away, so the little break might do me good? Getting me back into the swing of things is Last Retch and their new album Abject Cruelty.
Opening track Abject Cruelty doesn’t really stir much up in the way of excitement, it’s a lurching mid-paced number that has all the usual aspects of a death metal track, the drumming does a good job of adding a menace to the track but the slow pace throughout does not really help sell it very much even with a slight uplift midway its just too pedestrian for me.
Last Retch - Abject Cruelty (Time To Kill Records) [GC]
It seems like ages since I last reviewed a death metal album, it wasn’t, it was last month but it felt like ages ago, this was also a bit of a blessing because as if I am 100% honest it was all getting a bit samey and nothing was really blowing me away, so the little break might do me good? Getting me back into the swing of things is Last Retch and their new album Abject Cruelty.
Opening track Abject Cruelty doesn’t really stir much up in the way of excitement, it’s a lurching mid-paced number that has all the usual aspects of a death metal track, the drumming does a good job of adding a menace to the track but the slow pace throughout does not really help sell it very much even with a slight uplift midway its just too pedestrian for me.
Beasley Meth Merchants must be some sort of an in joke as a title but musically it’s a world away from the opener as it has some wonderful groovy guitar work that is just right and crosses over slightly into thrash but melds everything together really well, it threatens too slow down but its just a cunning ruse and it continues to pummel and groove all the way to the end.
Dissecting The Leper takes both of the previous tracks and gets the balance right, its got a slow and crawling pace but also infectious guitar sounds that really kick everything up and provide a little relief that there can be a bit of variation here without is sounding forced. In The Polder They Reek aims to get what the first song couldn’t achieve spot on, the slow and ominous creep of the track actually sounds huge and powerful here and really takes the OSDM and Florida influence and runs with it to tremendous effect, after such a good track.
I find Resinous Drip Of Decay slightly underwhelming as it does pretty much the same thing but in a slightly less good way, you think something might happen and wait, and wait but it never seems to manifest and just sort of ends up fading away in a disappointing way.
Dissolved In Lye (Down To Rot) cranks the dial back up speed wise and give you something to really get invested in again and when they get that groove going again it’s a glorious thing to listen to and really shows what they are capable of producing if they really concentrate, its gets slightly messy at the midway point with some of the time changes slightly missing the mark but when they get back into it the groove wins you back over and makes up for it!
If there was a title for most death metal song on the album then Oozing Pustules would easily win it and its also as straight forward as you can really get in the form of death metal tracks, and I’m not sure if I mean that in a good way or not? The guitar work is probably the best thing but once again some of the time signatures just feel off and make the songs different sections feel like they don’t all fit together properly, it’s a good song but it’s not a great song.
Gatling Gun gets back on the death metal groove train and shows that this really should be what they concentrate on more than anything as this is easily what they do best and most of the highlights of this album have been this style and had it all sounded like this we may have had a real contender of an album on our hands, a great way to end the album.
So? Did Abject Cruelty get me back on board the death metal express? Yes and no, there were some wonderful parts of this album but there were also some very ordinary parts to counteract them, and it was the hit and miss nature of it that was so frustrating! I enjoyed it for the most part but just wanted it to produce just that little bit more to push it from very good to great, but it just missed out on that for me. 7/10
So? Did Abject Cruelty get me back on board the death metal express? Yes and no, there were some wonderful parts of this album but there were also some very ordinary parts to counteract them, and it was the hit and miss nature of it that was so frustrating! I enjoyed it for the most part but just wanted it to produce just that little bit more to push it from very good to great, but it just missed out on that for me. 7/10
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