When I reviewed Deliberate Miscarriage’s Ghost Of Christmas Blast back in January, I bemoaned the fact that there were only three songs. More fool me as the buggers have only gone and recorded a bunch more, added them to the earlier trio and slated a full album for release.
The Welsh twosome have taken Lynn Jeffs of Ingested on board to cover the drums for this release as well. Although not an actual member of the band, his ferocious hammering fits in with the visceral string attacks and death-growl vocals.
Said growls, thumps and squeals combine to form fourteen tracks of poor taste, schlock horror musical violence. A glance at the song titles, plus a knowledge of Cannibal Corpse and 1980s video nasties, will give you an idea of what to expect. “Exhumed & Molested”, “Gutted With a Butterknife”, “Intestines in the Mudguards”… Yeah, don’t eat a large meal before listening.
A couple worth picking out are “Slow Dance of Decay”, which lends almost as much to sludge as death metal with it extra down-tuning and ponderous pace, and “Fresh Abortion Smoothie” for the sheer imagery conjured up by the title and lyrics.
Throughout the album, the riffs are appropriately simple and the rhythms designed to either have you nodding or thrashing along. It’s not an original album in of sound, but it’s hard to develop a “new” sound within the death metal sphere while still producing something brutal and enjoyable. Deliberate Miscarriage aren’t out to break the mould. Snap necks and eviscerate a bit maybe, but the mould is safe. Having said that, there’s no need to when they can pummel the listener with this many middle-of-the-road, reliable monstrosities.
If you like what we do, consider ing us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
Check out all the bands we review in 2021 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
Mortuary Melodies is out on December 17th
