Death grind’s most deserving sons Machetazo return with Ruin, their first full length in 5 years.
Just like the fetid corpses Machetazo adorn their albums with, they’ve only gotten more putrid and grotesque with time. Crypt opener “Horca” introduces Machetazo’s best guitar tone yet and a flurry of cacophonous drums and echoing grunts. The production does wonders for the duo as its somewhere between Mental Funeral, Left Hand Path, and Onward to Golgotha.
As you could probably surmise by the aforementioned references, Machetazo are leaning much heavier on the death metal side of things this time around. There’s a complete lack of horror movie samples and the band finds much more room to slow things down and get a solid groove going. Sure they blast and lets riffs fly at a furious pace, but they also incorporate a slew of mid-paced punk sounding bits and classic death metal shifts. Those who prefer Speed over Point Break might be a bit disappointed in that regard, but I feel it’s a better effort and approach.
“Espectro” stabs out through the muck as a slow swayer. It’s easily one of the best tracks on Ruin, yet it rarely finds itself above a slow rolling double bass or its Blind Dead like swagger. The addition of these throw back death metal flourishes works so well for the band as no real fan wants their undead gussied up and sounding all sweet. Now, there’s no reason to panic as the band still injects plenty of unholy tremolo riffs and some very punky thrash ones like the main riff of “Aparición” or the 28 Days Later blitz “Desenterrado.”
The bottom line is this could be that point where everyone remembers “oh yeah, that’s the album where they switched genres,” but it’ll probably be remembered more for its downright nasty atmosphere, solid stock of riffs and as the band’s most realized album yet.
The whole thing’s up for streaming on Doomentia‘s bandcamp and can be bought at Parasitic Records.
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