Ascended Dead, Slimelord & Trench Foot - Star & Garter, Manchester (19/9.24)

Trench Foot open with a short instrumental piece that sounds like My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost before the blasting starts. When they play at a fast pace, it sounds rather generic but when they play at more mid-pace, it is a weighty rumble which possesses a considerable amount of power. These slower death metal songs are reminiscent of Jungle Rot. A new song 'Gradually Torn In Two' feature some slow, grinding guitars which sound pretty cool. 'Canine Mutilation' rages in an early Obituary fashion and they definitely get better as the set goes on.

Slimelord are dizzying. They have a level of technicality similar to Gorguts but they are also dark and terrifying like Portal. It's technical death metal being dragged screaming into the abyss. The vocals are drenched in reverb, giving them that cavernous effect but they aren't always that audible. You can hear the guitarist's backing vocals much clearer and he sounds like Chuck Schuldiner. It's slow and dark most of the time and the sense of impending doom is ever present yet at the same time it's inventive and the amount of musical ideas contained within their set is staggering.

Ascended Dead are much more old school and primal in their delivery of death metal. They hark back to the '80s when death metal was still in it's infancy with bands like Slayer, Possessed and Hellhammer. The Brazilian blackened thrash of bands like Sarcofago is probably an influence too. It's fast and savage with zero subtlety. There are pounding beats and plenty of Jeff Hanneman-style squealing, out of control guitars. It is unrelenting but it also gets a bit repetitive. It desperately needs a change of pace or some light and shade to make it more interesting and give the blasting parts more impact. The so-called 'slow one' (as the band describe it) is yet more frenetic blasting  which includes some Tom Araya style 'Angel Of Death' screams which make me chuckle. Overall though, I find a full set too much as it is all rather one dimensional.

Ascended Dead ***

Slimelord *****

Trench Foot ***