Sensory Amusia – Breed Death
Release Date: 27th May 2022
Label: Lacerated Enemy
Bandcamp
Genre: Tech Death, Brutal Death Metal, Death Metal, Deathcore.
FFO: To The Grave, Aborted.
Review By: Mike Leighton
Sensory Amusia are not new when it comes to the death metal scene; having released several different efforts dating back to 2013. Their newest effort, Breed Death, is expected to drop on May 27th through Lacerated Enemy Records! As expected, Australian Death Metal trio, Sensory Amusia, are bringing the thunder with this record with their special blend of crushing grooves and technical ferocity. Sensory Amusia is made up of Shaun Maloney on guitars, Joel Parkyn on bass, and Jei Doublerice on vocals! With just over 31 minutes of face-melting riffs, and crushing breakdowns, Breed Death should be on everyone’s list of albums to check out before the year 2022 is complete. Let’s dive in!
Birth Through Violence, while being just a 50-second intro track, hits like an oncoming train with no warning! Blistering drums, crunchy guitars, and evil vocals. Sensory Amusia have brought their A-game with this one. Yersinia Pestis is the lead single released for this album. Fast track, and very well-produced. The beginning started off much like the intro track, heavy and in your face, but the rest of the track was a blend of ferocity and grooviness that left my head bouncing the entire time. Yersinia Pestis is the perfect blend of elements to introduce the album to old fans as well as new fans of Sensory Amusia. It highlights their capability and showed what one can expect going forward.
Vermin, probably my favourite track, starts off with a very crunchy riff by guitarist Shaun Maloney before leading into the vocal stylings of Jei Doublerice. Again, the layering of elements on this album is top-notch, and that allows listeners to hear it as a whole or pick out parts they might want to focus on. The vocals on Vermin are what made the track in my opinion; Jei absolutely killed it! Vermin has a very diverse bridge offering up a cacophony of sounds (a bell tower, people (possibly sick), and other noises like chirping rats) that creates a unique soundscape that relates back to the entire theme of the album.
Parasitic Alteration starts off nicely with some great guitar riffs where Shaun brings in some harmonics that are reminiscent of Suite-Pee by System Of A Down. Then we get back to that same level of brutality that I have come to expect from these guys. There are also some vocal flourishes that caught me off guard and immediately made me think of Angelmaker/Carcosa, which is not a bad thing. I very much enjoy Jei’s vocal range because I see it as setting a high bar for this genre of music. Vulgar Thoughts of Violence, is another bumpy ride, but right when you think you’ve heard everything these guys have to offer you get an unexpected ambient (almost reverse sounding) break in the song before jumping back into this sonic assault of a track.
Bind, Torture, Kill starts off with some of the harshest vocals, and the sludgiest guitars so far. The heaviest track on the record. Sensory Amusia also experiment with some other sounds to create a new, refreshing atmosphere at the beginning, and it works well! This was the first track that had any semblance of a chorus, which will be perfect when performing live. I can see this being one that gets crowds going and the mosh pit rolling. A Blank Canvas of Flesh has the most unique intro of any track so far on this album before going back to the heavy that Sensory Amusia are known for. Besides that, the track is great, but sounds pretty standard for these guys.
Breed Death, the title track, started off very nice and strong. Destructive vocals got me very pumped during my initial listen of this track. Throughout, Maloney delivers some of the crunchiest riffs we’ve heard so far alongside some fantastic finger work from bassist, Joel Parkyn. Sensoria Amusia closed out a very solid album by bringing everything they had to the table on Breed Death! The pelting drums, and blistering guitar riffs blend so well together, that they not only created well-rounded tracks, but a very well-crafted album in its entirety. The production alone is top tier, but when you add in the musicianship and vocal delivery, you get something really special. Do not sleep on this album, and if you enjoy it, definitely check Sensory Amusia’s past work. I, for one, am very glad I pre-ordered this!
(4 / 5)
