Hailing from the United Kingdom’s Yamabushi Collective come some strapping young lads known for their work in Nembutal and sonic torturers Cease To Exist under their new band name, Gevurah. They reach a new form after combining audial dismal fire, thrash and black metal. As previously stated in articles I’ve written, I consider myself a production junkie. I usually can’t stand anything low quality, but after connecting in my mind that an audio decimation band combined with live recorded blackened thrash was going to be a very gritty feat, I realized it was for art and I fell in love with this album. Certain lo-fi artists have been able to hit a knack with me, like Human Bodies, Shibboleth, and early demos of many bands I listen to now, among others. Sonic torture being extremely low quality most of the time because it’s the sound version of torture made me ready for a not so finely-tuned release.
The tape cover of ‘Rites of Degeneracy‘
Each song starts with a small bout of feedback, pitch garbled, sound uncomfortable, before frenzying into blasting shred guitars and quick, take-no-prisoners-or-breaks drum work. I know none of the members’ names but I do know that they do an unexpectedly wonderful job of channeling all the sound and fury of various European thrash and black metal bands while dissecting all structure with scalpels of harsh noise and sharp dissonance. It’s executed in a way that changes the unpleasant into enjoyable, especially for me. I was able to focus on the severance of chords and the blankets of fuzz washing over all the instrumentals in advancing and receding tides. There was even the song Naught which is track four and has a serious Full Of Hell & Merzbow feel to it because of the use of a loop of feedback underneath the instruments. It accents the to and fro of each member’s hard work and shoots some interest into the mix.
The seven song EP/mini album/tape/whatever you’d like to call it lasts under ten minutes, but the time it does supply is more than substantial in quality.
Vomit forth the earth is direct black metal. Fast guitar over dastardly drumming and high, throaty vocals.
Glutton is the catalyst of a thrashier sound.
Rites of degeneracy is deafening d-beat thrash. It’s fucking ace, too. My favorite track on the album.
Naught is slow, brooding, and has plenty of noisy undertones.
Devour is broken up, scratchy, fast, and destructively thrash metal.
Cast into the infinite is basically a direct thrash song with black metal vocals. A really great song.
And finally, Consecrated remains is the thrashiest song. It comes about in a way that seems to have been set up as a smooth transition from more heavily rooted Norwegian black metal influence to their more heavily rooted German thrash metal influence. It’s a really cool progression to hear and I’m happy I got to listen.
The tape cover of ‘Rites of Degeneracy’
Sadly, I can’t understand a damn word of what the vocalist is saying, but the pure vehemence in his delivery and the almost spitting screams he tears out of his throat and pummels through a microphone baffle me into respect and awe. He’s a seriously spectacular vocalist and I am really really curious to see what his vocals sound like in a cleaner mix. My money would be bet on fucking great.
This balance of their incredibly obvious influences and stylings has me pleased that I gave them a chance despite my picky ear. If you listen, try hard to focus and keep up, because even through all the compression and live recording, I can see them becoming a bigger, badder, noisier, and hopefully cleaner monster that will for sure be something special.
The only place I’ve been able to find info on them at has been right here, so look on and enjoy:
Bandcamp
Yamabushi Facebook
Yamabushi Tumblr
Jay
January 15, 2016 at 6:18 am
Strapping young lads? These guys are well into their 30’s!