Auroch – Taman Shud (Profound Lore)
Wednesday, 3rd September 2014
Bit late on this one but better late than never to thie party, especially when the party is this filthy and concise. A sort of slimmer cousin thematically to last year’s stellar Grave Miasma release Odori Sepulcrorum (minus a lot of the atmospherics, however), old school death metal honed to a finely-blunt point and served without frills are what are found here on Taman Shud. And it’s awesome.
From the word go changes abound in the songs, be it tempo or thematically, jumping from crushing for a set of bars to blast-laden solo-shred-fests the next. “Octavio (Swirling In Capricorn)” is a ready showcase for the deluge of surprising moods that come forth through its raw violence and extremely busy four minute span. For the sounds of saints stripped of essence and given to oblivion, the multi-textured “Death Canonized” is two minutes of unequivocal aural evisceration (…yeah, holy hyperbole everywhere).
With the technical aplomb and embodying the nascent years of death metal, there isn’t a lot of forward-thinking, genre-pushing, or anything of the sort on Taman Shud. That’s okay though. While the many pieces found across its 25 minute run time will likely be very familiar to veterans and casuals in the form, what this Canadian trio does it does exceedingly well. The songs bounce and writhe and rip from the ears all hope of struggle and before burnout can set in or boredom take over the album has run its course and breathlessness is all that is like to remain.
If only other purveyors of this style followed the same methodology.
