Gaped – The Murderous Inception (Lacerated Enemy)

Wednesday, 12th March 2014
Rating: 8/10

Gaped is a one-man band from Australia. One look at the cover and you know that you are in for some harsh stuff. If that wasn’t enough, the album opens with a gruesome sample of a woman elaborating on some things beyond the realm of kinky that she would like done to her. Safe to say, this one is not for the kiddies, but some brutal death metal that keeps its influences in check as well as providing an excellent journey into depravity.

Given the Cannibal Corpse cover (the excellent “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled”), it would be easy to pigeonhole the band squarely into the dime-a-dozen US brutal death metal scene. However, the joke would on you, as Gaped work overtime to bring in a number of older Swedish influences, the biggest highlight being a slight feeling in the guitar tone of Hypocrisy’s Osculum Obscenum and Penetralia. There are also some vibes that fans of bands like Ribspreader and Bloodbath will definitely appreciate.

The five original songs are remarkably catchy for the style, keeping things at a solid mid-tempo chug for the most part of the runtime with an occasional burst of speed. The opening riffs and eerie melodies of “Succumb” are a treat not often heard in the genre. The attention to melodic riffing assures that there will never be a dull moment to be had, with each track providing plenty of moments to draw you back in. The vocals are a major contributor to this catchiness as well, with a surprisingly intelligible tone for the level of brutality given. “Whites of Your Eyes” seemed to be the most sing-a-long friendly in this regard (though we all know those disapproving looks you will get from your neighbors).

While it may not sway the opinion of anyone not looking for their next go-round of brutal death metal, Gaped provide an impressively solid debut. Twenty-three minutes of punishing yet memorable material hits the sweet spot; enough to capture the listeners attention and leave them a bit wanting in the end.

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