Vomit Forth – Seething Malevolence

Vomit Forth – Seething Malevolence
Release Date: 8th July 2022
Label: Century Media Records
Pre-Save
Genre: Death Metal, Northeast Death Metal.
FFO: Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, and Pyrexia.
Review By: Eric Wilt

Recent Century Media signee Vomit Forth aren’t here to play your brother’s death metal. In fact, they’re not here to play your death metal either. According to vocalist Kane Gelaznic, “Modern death metal needs to be more than this archetypical, neanderthal, dumbed-down sound. We want to add something real and challenging to the genre and make it more legitimate.” On their first full length for Century Media, Gelaznic and mates, drummer Nick Hermann, guitarist Ricky Brayall, and bassist Tyler Bidwell certainly present a different vision for death metal, but it’s not new, and I have a feeling it’s not what Century Media was expecting when they signed the band to a contract. After all, Vomit Forth’s previous release, Northeastern Deprivation is a bludgeoning slab of death metal that deftly blends archetypal, neanderthal, dumbed down death metal with their own brand of slam-influenced heaviness that made it one of the better Maggot Stomp releases of 2019.

When you set out to “change how people looked at death metal” (Gelaznic), it is important to let the changes be organic, to let the song dictate what it becomes instead of forcing it to be different for the sake of being different. According to Gelaznic, Vomit Forth, “wanted to add new layers to [death metal],” and in so doing, they forced the music to be something that it’s not.

The album begins with a minute and eighteen seconds of noise entitled Untitled, which was created by experimental musician Prurient, before Eucharist Intact smacks you in the face with everything new the band is bringing to the album in terms of pushing the boundaries of death metal. The track begins with a bass drop so heavy it would take a really prime set of speakers to play it clearly. This in itself doesn’t bother me, as I’m a huge fan of bass drops, but if there is such a thing as too many bass drops, Vomit Forth definitely surpasses this number throughout the course of the album. Next, comes the first bit of tremolo picking and drums in the song, and it is immediately apparent that the album has been compressed almost as much as Metallica’s Death Magnetic, and everything sounds like it’s on the verge of constantly clipping. After that, you’re hit with a computer-generated snake rattle sound that reappears numerous times throughout the album. This snake rattle sound isn’t the only computer-generated addition to the album, as the whole thing sounds over processed. This use of the computer in the final product is what I think Vomit Forth focused on to try to make their album different from the crowd, and the result is underwhelming. The remainder of the 29-minute album, with the exception of I Feel Nothing, follows this same formula to similar results.

As I listen to the album, I can’t help but think of Slipknot, and I wonder if Vomit Forth decided to find out what would happen if Slipknot made a slamming death metal album with modulated vocals, Suffocation-esque breakdowns, a groove metal vibe from time to time, and lots of bass drops. If so, I can understand the allure of trying to use the Slipknot sound to become the biggest death metal band in the world, but in this case, it doesn’t work.

The shame of it is this is not a bad lot of songs. Without the overreliance on computer processing, modulated vocals, snake rattle sound effects, and an overabundance of bass drops, the songs are good, and are very much worthy successors to Northeastern Deprivation. Instead, of turning death metal on its ear or fostering a new style of the genre, I think Seething Malevolence will wear fans out with its gimmicks and, in spite of the good musicianship and songs, will not garner many repeat listens.

(2.5 / 5)