Plagueborne deliver their debut album A Blueprint for Annihilation. Slamming death metal with flying laser sharks? Sounds like a recipe for some disgusting down tuned filth. Released out of Rising Nemesis Records, German slammers Plagueborne – who started life as Five Dollar Crackbitch before disbanding, give us 43 minutes of riffs, growls and delicious death metal stew.
For those less au fait with extreme metal genres, the most brutal end of death metal came about when slam was invented. Much like black metal it was borne from a simplified, rawer version of death metal. Black metal took the direction of relentless tremolo picking and ‘being stabbed to death’ vocals. Slam takes guttural vocals to new depths – think when you try to burp the alphabet, and heavily down tuned chugging chromatic patterns. Oh and the obligatory ‘St. Anger’ snare.
Modern extreme death metal has very much evolved, with classic death metal simultaneously intwined with more complex rhymes patters, and filthy chuggy slam. Slamcore or slamming death metal are the typical monikers used. However, it can be easy to gloss over the huge number of brutal death metal bands with illegible band logos flying around. There is often not a huge amount to differentiate them – although many remain very enjoyable to listen to.
Rather than just pounding you into submission for 43 minutes, A Blueprint for Annihilation takes twists and turns. More riffs than you can shake a laser shark at. Black metal tremolo picking. Death metal blast beats. Plagueborne have given us a very good portion of extreme death metal and deserve your attention with A Blueprint for Terror. Disgustingly guttural vocals are present and accounted for.
Profane Creation brings the black metal vibes with it’s uncomfortable dissonant intro. Where the Dead Whispers My Name is vintage Bloodbath. Value of Freedom was the first single released from the album, sounding very much in the Be’lakor melodeath realm. Therein lies the quality of this release. The subtle changes in style song to song keep it interesting right through to closer Reborn from Perception.
It’s difficult for an extreme death metal band to garner widespread attention, such is the nature of extreme genres. But if you like to dip your tip in the heavy shit (so to speak), get listening to A Blueprint for Annihilation. It’s an excellent debut offering. You don’t want to upset the sharks….
Score: 8/10
The entire album was recently streamed on the Slam Worldwide YouTube channel.
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