For followers of utmost metallic, Ripped to Shreds checks quite a lot of necessary bins. Crushing, closely distorted guitars and bass tones? Verify. A mixture of aggression and melody within the riffwork? Verify. Thrilling and persistently satisfying harsh vocals? Verify. Intricate and spectacular drums that also carry a coherent sonic narrative? Verify. It’s aces throughout for these guys, and that’s definitely true of the band’s newest album, Sanshi.
At a high-level, the band’s sound has deep roots in Entombed’s Left Hand Path and Dismember’s Like An Everflowing Stream, each by way of the guitar sound and the construction and cadence of the songwriting. That mentioned, nevertheless, they’re removed from a HM-2 retread act, and transcend the glut of the various examples which have proliferated during the last decade. Somewhat, the band units this as the muse on which to erect stylistic prospers that recall bands like Gut Baalism and Vehemence in some moments, Bolt Thrower and Edge of Sanity in others. The band additionally displays a very good aptitude for rip-and-tear grinding sections in addition to extra hook-laden melodic passages. In different phrases, their sound is every little thing you’d hope for in easy, fashionable demise metallic.
It’s a method that requires zero “warming as much as.” Should you like demise metallic, you must like this.
The album opens with “Into the Courtroom of Yanluowang,” which really does remind me of the opening salvo of “Left Hand Path” as effectively. However the track may be very a lot its personal beast, its six-minute runtime permitting the band to unfold its black wings to their full extent. The track is the right opener, because it exhibits the assorted moods and tempos the band can convey to the desk. I particularly love the riff that kicks in at 2:40, and I wager it’s enjoyable as hell to play too! The track is brutal, exhilarating, and haunting in equal measure, a troublesome combine for many bands to grasp.
Different highlights embrace the guitar heroics on “燒冥紙 (Sacrificial Hearth),” which add the perfect distinction to an in any other case pure crusher of a track. I additionally actually dig the extra-fast blasting on “Feast of the Deceased,” together with the spectacular choosing method used on the guitars in a number of elements. It’s a track that incorporates a number of dynamics whereas nonetheless destroying every little thing in its path.
Nevertheless, I believe “殭屍復活 (Horrendous Corpse Resurrection)” could be the actual banger of the file. This would be the one which will get the pit shifting and other people’s heads banging probably the most. Just like the album’s opening observe, this track has every little thing the band does so effectively, this time packed into an environment friendly three minutes of death-grinding bliss. It’s like Scream Bloody Gore had a child with Struggle Grasp after which by some means some genetics from Onset of Putrefaction acquired spliced in there by some means. Hearken to the solo and also you’ll get what I imply.
However calling out highlights for this file would possibly come throughout as slightly deceptive, because the album actually doesn’t have any blemishes. Maybe there’s some predictability after some time, however you come to an album like this for a motive. Moreover, the band delves into quite a lot of fascinating material like Chinese language folklore and Taiwanese funeral rites which have gone unexplored amongst a lot of their friends. Loss of life metallic is an oversaturated medium these days, and Ripped to Shreds is likely one of the true standouts.
