Bay Area death-thrashers LACERATION deliver crushing, no frills, no bullshit death/thrash on their compilation Remnants. The album features LACERATION’s earliest recordings; an EP, a demo and tracks from the band’s 2013 split with TINNITUS. Remnants also features 2009’s Consuming Reality and the acclaimed Realms Of The Unconscious EP. This brings all the work Laceration has done over the years in a tight package. Remnants brings me back to the days of getting my first taste of extreme metal such as OBITUARY’s Cause of Death and SODOM’s Witching Metal demo, and this is a nostalgia trip from whence I hope never to return.
The album starts with ‘Realm Of The Unconscious’, opening with an acoustic bit that grabs your attention before bringing you to straight to a hellish landscape with non-stop riffs and the screams of tortured souls. It reminds me of that 3-5 second stop a roller coaster has right before plunging you over the first hill, and quite the plunge it is. The album moves along at breakneck speed until you get to the behemoth that is ‘Exhausted In Form’. The atmosphere this song builds is phenomenal, and just a ripping song that shows the strength of every member of this band. After that, the album just keeps with the circle pit-inducing ‘Bred To Consume’ and the campy, over the top ‘Hobo With A Shotgun’ (Shout out to the 2011 black comedy of the same name. Definitely worth a watch on your next movie night.). The songs start to blend a little on the next couple tracks, but it ends strong with ‘Taphephobia’ and ‘Shadows Of Existence’.
Overall, this is an album that can fit right there with the classic extreme metal albums from the late ’80s to early ’90s. For fans of DEMOLITION HAMMER, DEATH, SODOM, etc. I am excited that this band has reformed, and I look forward to any new music they create.
Review By: Robert Atkinson
LACERATION
Remnants
Unspeakable Axe Records
5.5 / 6