A review by The Brutal Commander

I was very pleased to receive an email from London death dealers CORPSING asking for a review of their EP, VIEWING THE INVISIBLE. Having followed this band for a couple of years now I was excited to hear what their new offerings would bring after 5 years since their previous release. What made me even more excited to explore this EP is the fact that Luc Lemay of GORGUTS has a guest lead vocal role and Jason Mendonça of Akercocke laying down a guest guitar solo! Some really cool collabs there that get me itching to get into this!

 

On close inspection the first thing my eyes lay upon is the artwork for this EP. I see images of despair and loneliness, lost and afraid, a scared inner child and a world shattered and shredded with dark limbs grabbing and flailing in the background. A cool piece of art by GARY RONALDSON! I’ll definitely be looking up more of his work after this! 

Cracking into the EP, We kick off with the first track, BE THE PACK. An emotional message about mental illness opens the track and with its inspiring message told, Boom! A series of cymbal chokes accompanied by guitar count down to the initial explosion of sound kicking off this beastly track. Blast beats galore rumble through your skull  with a tormenting guitar riff and demonic vocal intro. The speed and ferocity in the first verse bring everything to a rolling boil as the steaming pot of Corpsing’s sound spills over. With strong old school vibes Corpsing deliver their parts in raw energetic fashion. The vocals develop into a deranged spoken part that bring sinister vibes to the soundscape. The guitars grinding like meat mincers  behind the madman’s words keep the intensity going despite the vocal change. The most sinister a deranged guitar solo flutters into existence seemingly leaking from the underworld, escaping through cracks of scorched earth riding on the screams and wails of the damned below.  Perfectly executed and fulfilling its purpose, creating fear in the minds of the listener along the way. Concluding this track with the same intensity that began our journey “BE THE PACK” are the final words signing off this first song and this has certainly set the bar for this EP leaving me even more excited to discover what’s in store next.

Heavy chugging guitars meet the listener at the door as we are introduced to A HEART HURTS, A HEART WORKS. The Machinehead-esque riffs develop into a chaotic and brutal second course bringing nothing but meat to this morbid meal. The gristly harsh vocals narrate the story like a demonic commander addressing it’s horde of twisted subordinates. Dancing between sections of compulsive head banging and erratic speed the listener cannot sit in comfort for long as they are thrown into torment and grinding punishment as the speed intensifies and builds momentum. The drums do an impressive job of creating these dramatic changes throughout the song and sound like they’re coming from hell itself. In the final moments the same riff that introduced us to this morsel of macerated meat helps ease us back out of our hurricane mind space ready to take on the next course.  

Evil, iniquitous dissonance and a trill ride bell batters at the listeners mind as SOUL PARALYSIS manifests itself. The machine gun blast beats barrage the listener as the sinister harsh vocals of Luc Lemay lay the path for insanity to set in. I noted at this point how I really enjoyed the production of this EP. Every element sits perfectly in the mix and I never struggled to hear any parts. I’m not sure how the music produced but judging by the quality of the tracks you can tell CORPSING are well versed musicians fully capable of producing top tier music. Mixed and Mastered by Edd Amos of Warlock studios London, Edd has done an excellent job with this EP. The solo in SOUL PARALYSIS sent shivers down my spine as I felt an uncanny sensation wash over me like  Satan himself was looming over me ready to snatch my soul. The intense finishing section of this song concludes with a pronounced ending accompanied by that trill ride bell which really topped off the track.

The final course is here and I’m hoping for a nice sweet dessert from this title track VIEW THE INVISIBLE. Instead I’m treated to a frenzy of hammer blows and screeching string scratches as if the guitar’s plectrum were scraping across my mind and distorting my reality. The vocal approach from the get go is especially monstrous. With a deep guttural delivery it brings to mind visions of otherworldly beasts hunting me for the very essence of my being. With the intensity of building the track develops into a blast beat blitzkrieg, the speed of the riffs and drums impressive and captivating. I enjoyed the call and response vocal part that followed. A low gutteral sentence responded by a deranged high vocal. A conversation between two heinous entities. Another bout of blast beats batter down on us as we continue this gruesome journey through insanity. I find myself throwing my head back snd forth as the heavy chuggy riffs lead us to an atmospheric solo adding to the melancholy. The wah pedal really making those notes wail like a phantom in the ether. Before you know the end fades out and you’re left sat in the silence that follows processing what you have just been through. 

VIEWING THE INVISIBLE is a strong entry into CORPSING’s discography and demonstrates that the band have true talent snd skill in their musical fields. The vocals were delivered with intensity, emotion and there was a good dynamic throughout which avoided the whole thing sounding one dimensional. The variation of blast beats, chugs, bits of groove and atmosphere shaped the EP into a journey that any death metal fan would be happy to undertake. I particularly enjoy this direction that CORPSING have taken their music, previous releases had far more thrashy elements than in this new EP and the production is a step up from previous releases. Whatever you did different has paid off and elevated your sound to greater heights! 

I am giving VIEWING THE INVISIBLE 8 tortured souls out of 10. 

Head over to CORPSING social pages and drop them a follow! https://linktr.ee/corpsingmetal?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=909bc5ee-174b-4411-b5c0-84d8c234a082

VIEWING THE INVISIBLE is released on 7th February accompanied by a release show on the 8th at The Devonshire Arms in Camden, London! 

If you can’t wait til then, head over to CORPSING’s YouTube channel where you can listen to one of the tracks; A HEART HURTS, A HEART WORKS right now! https://youtu.be/Zj8VTTkIIow?si=Fk9n2Tj0nRvxJnei