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Sapience In Anguish (2022)

Celestial chugging is very much on the agenda for this new American death metal act from Indiana that gives off a strong Swedish vibe in some of its tone. Sapience In Anguish is the debut offering from this three-piece, consisting of five tracks with a total duration of just under 12 minutes.

‘Desertion’ sounds like it opens with a quote from serial killer Richard Ramirez (aka Night Stalker), although I could be wrong. The track is a mid-tempo, doomy trudge that gets the head nodding and the severed foot tapping. There’s nothing flashy about such ominous designs, the band just steadily playing out their death metal fantasies in equal measures of the infectious and the infected.

‘Ingested’ provides another juggernaut of juicy, chainsaw riffage and nodding percussion, and the vocal barks are effective in their chesty stance as the riff twists behind, while ‘Řøt’ is the fastest track on offer initially but steps back towards an angry, yet consistent pulsating rhythm before resorting back to pace. ‘Sinne’ has a wonderfully gnashing, slashing riff and ‘Split’ has a more death n’ roll dynamic to its structure.

The fact that this demo is so short means you never grow tired of any formulaic construction. There’s plenty of rhythmic ravagery and an almost punky fluency to tracks such as ‘Split’ alongside sludgier, yet more contemporary grooves.

It’s not necessarily my idea of quality death metal, especially with how the scene has become so morbidly appealing, but Sapience In Anguish will appeal to those who like muscular, precise yet catchy grooves.

For those interested, the Sapience In Anguish demo is available here.

Neil Arnold

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