The debut EP from brand spanking new old school brutal death metal band Voracious Scourge was seemingly birthed in mature form from a collective of already accomplished brilliant death metal technicians. The inclusion of Mike Smith’s (ex-Suffocation)  insane technical drum wizardry and a visceral vocal performance by Adrie Kloosterward (Sinister, Supreme Pain) should have you bought in already if you’re a death metal aficionado. Yet the kicker in the line-up is the hugely underrated Suture guitarist Jason McIntyre, who appears to have spearheaded the project and written most of the songs in collaboration with the aforementioned artists and fellow Suture guitarist on bass. If you’ve heard the 2013 re-recording of Suture‘s ‘Carnivorious Urge to Kill’ then you’ve got a general idea of Voracious Scourge’s attack but no clue how well they’ve been able to elevate that technical old school brutal death metal approach on ‘Our Demise’.

 The first thing you’ll notice firing up “Harbinger of Our Own Demise” is Smith’s cannon-blasted drumming rallying under McIntyre’s soldiered, Bolt Thrower-ized riffing that quickly gives way to raucous old school Suffocation style chugging. Kloosterward’s vocals are tuned towards his brutal Supreme Pain performances a la ‘Divine Incarnation’ and is helped along on a few tracks by Flesh Parade vocalist Jason Pilgrim’s brief screeching. As the EP progresses to “Fortuity of the Decieved” I get distinct hints of ‘Souls to Deny’ and self-titled Suffocation largely due to Smith’s unmistakable style and McIntyre’s angular, moshable riffing. The major differentiation is found in the guitar performances that hark back further in time and seem to pull exclusively from the early 90’s death metal cadre apart from the almost Mithras-esque finisher “Oracle of Repugnance” though the result is closer to a brutal version of Absorbed/Unreal Overflows.

‘Our Demise’ is written with such adept hands that it is almost vexing how they were able to equally play to the strengths of such well-known death metal musicians and still thrive within the inventive brutality that made Suture so interesting in the past. The only one who gets left in the dust a bit is the bassist, though his distinct rumble is felt throughout and it’s not as if the EP needed a cheesy bonking ‘Slit Your Guts’ moment. Voracious Scourge effortlessly conjures up the best points of convergence of technical and brutal death metal, devoid of parlor tricks. They’ve honed in on the same thoughtful savagery that made albums like ‘The Erosion of Sanity’ and ‘Under a Stone With No Inscription’ so brilliant and the result is fantastic death metal listening.

Your complete evisceration 4.0/5.0

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