RIPPED TO SHREDS - Luan review

 

RIPPED TO SHREDS - Luan

Pulverised Records

This is the second album by Taiwan / US band RIPPED TO SHREDS. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Andrew Lee who handles the vocals, guitar and bass. Lee also has Justin Bean, from TRENCHROT on drums and Tom Warrior from SIEGE COLUMN who does the two synth pieces on here. Some guest guitarists Lee has helping out doing lead work are Takafumi Matsubara from GRIDLINK, Phil Tougas of FUNEBRARUM and Damian Herring from HORRENDOUS. 

Lee and his ensemble here deliver ten cuts, two of which are synth instrumentals. Musically Lee and company push some amazing Swedish circa 1988 death metal meets a touch of grind as well as a pinch of 80's hardcore or what the newer kids call crust. For years this musical narrative has been tried and failed. But of late some acts have narrowed it down and RIPPED TO SHREDS are one of them.

Think GRAVE or DISMEMBER doing their usual thing but kicking it to 45 rpm once in a while. You've got the buzzsaw guitars, jackhammer drumming and the guests who get to lay down some killer solos are fuckin incredible. As far as Lee's vocals go, he's a maniac. I don't understand a damm thing he's screaming/grunting. But then does it really matter? Everything about this release is great.

http://www.pulverised.net/

LISTEN HERE:

https://pulverised.bandcamp.com/album/luan

BRAIN CORROSION / RIPPED TO SHREDS - Exhumed from Eastern Tombs Split review

 

BRAIN CORROSION / RIPPED TO SHREDS - Exhumed from Eastern Tombs Split

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions

What we have here is a battle for Taiwan extreme metal representative supremacy. Well maybe not but that's a good way to start off this bout. BRAIN CORROSION are a three piece grind act from Taiwan. Musically they follow the Eastern grind style template. You've got your maniacal vocals which on here vary from screams to bestial lyrical interpretations. The drum work is pile driving and the riffs are pure savagery. These guys unleash eight cuts onto your virgin consciousness. For us adults we want more.

Next up is RIPPED TO SHREDS who are a band I know about. Actually the band is really a one man project by multi instrumentalist Andrew Lee. This guy pushes his love of Euro style old school death metal through a filter of Eastern grind and psychotic life experiences. He delivers four cuts, one original and three covers. The original, "Rotting Stenches Unknown" is fuckin great. Of course it's his choice of covers which he's known for on past releases which gets interesting. On here he plays it safe with covers of GRIDLINK  and ASSUCK.  But it's his cover of "Samhallets Offer" by ASOCIAL which threw me. I've got ASOCIAL on a tape somewhere.

So with every split release I look at em as a wrestling bout. Since I'm an old school wrestling fan I'd have to toss some chairs into the ring in order to end the bout and call it a draw. Hey look, Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is from Philadelphia, PA. So maybe they remember ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) and the mayhem happening in some of those bouts. 

http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

LISTEN HERE:

https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/exhumed-from-eastern-tombs