CARCINOID – METASTATIC DECLINATION LP (Blood Harvest)

Carcinoid’s dastardly, primitive debut full-length, ‘Metastatic Declination’, presents 45 minutes of grisly, rancid, rotten Death Metal, paying homage to obvious old school influences like Carcass, Autopsy, Baphomet / Banished and even Napalm Death, whilst, despite adapting a decidedly traditional, proven approach, managing to sound freshly fetid and presently putrid, proving perhaps that quality death never grows old or tired.

Much like Undergang, this sick Australian quartet have a knack for conceiving and executing memorable songs, a fairly sterile production allowing their disgusting deliberations and foul, lo-fi filth to seep through the speakers in a steaming heap of cancerous discharge, the garrotting, devilish bass particularly disturbing, seemingly deriving immense pleasure and glee from its vile potency, sharp and unstoppable, primed to slice through cartilage, skin, arteries, flesh and maybe even bone.

There’s a mocking, celebratory tone detectable throughout the eight nauseating emissions of catchy, doom-tinged death, delivered mostly at mid pace, the momentum sometimes gathering ominously as Carcinoid – who derive their name from a slow-growing tumour (that a cursory, lazy internet search informs me is commonly found in the small intestine, appendix, liver, bowel or rectum) – move in for the kill; malignant, merciless and indiscriminate.

Evilometer: 555/666