Friday 31 July 2015

Barrows - Swine Race (CD Review)



01.Child Of Matricide
02.Long Drop
03.Breaking Wheel
04.River Blindness
05.Interficio Panton
06.Iapetus
07.Matyr
08.Veil On The Throng
09.Uxoricide


Lee Newton (Vocals)
Owen Matz (Guitars)
Joey Stannard (Drums)


Forged in Hell's Basement - Medicine Hat, Canada,back in 2008.
Barrows, was formed as an outlet for three musicians with a passion for all things heavy and disturbing. With an original line-up of Lee Newton (vocals), Owen Matz (guitars) and Allan Breitkreuz (drums); one demo had been released.

But, due to unfortunate circumstances, Allan had to resign from the band.  With no drummer, Joey Stannard was asked to take over drumming duties. At this point the reboot button was pressed and Barrows' signature sound of Immolation clashing it out with Cattle Decapitation and Circle of Dead Children came to life. Swine Grind.

In October of 2014, armed with an arsenal of songs, Barrows entered into the recording process and this is the result.




Whilst the first seven tracks represent a typical band of the genre, screaming vocals, precision and fast drumming and a solid wall of extreme riffs, this all combined with excellent production and performed to a higher standard than many, it is the last two that offer a little more in the way of construction.

'Veil On The Throng' whilst still sledgehammering us with a huge wall of sound, manage also to throw in some slower darker chord structures and at times the drum patter varies to created a dual sound.

At six minutes 'Uxoricide' takes a slower more melodic approach with use of samples and a near death/doom riff.
Such is the change between the two styles it creates balance between agression and rhythmic energy.

Rating 8/10
For fans of: Morbid Angel, Cattle Decapitation, Immolation

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