SECTIONED : PURULENT REALITY
Paragon Records
That Sectioned are a rather multi-national act and have moved between a variety of geographical bases since their inception is, I think, evident in the way that they have pulled together a variety of influences for this cracking debut, titled “Purulent Reality”. They don’t seem to feel the pressure of being a UK death metal band, an eastern European death metal band, a US death metal band… they just get the fuck on with it. A little bit Swedish, a little bit Floridian, but for the main part, a whole lot of everything else that has descended thence, smashed into a coherent soup with the power of strong riffing and an appropriately defiant attitude, this is a competent and hard-edged ride.
The band are confident enough in their abilities to put aside a few of the usual dictates of death metal song writing, and so each of the seven tracks on offer here stretches impressively far. Given the usually repetitive nature of the beast, this could be off-putting, but on “Behind My Eyes”, for example, one of the longest tracks at seven minutes, the leads are so strong and lively that time gallops past, and only the impression of richness and depth is left.
Other stand-out tracks include the opener “A Lonely Grasp of Winter”, which begins pummelling, low and nasty, but eventually undergoes a very organic evolution into something more feeling, with a towering solo and an impressive expansion of scope. “Loneliest Man” is similarly focused on developing a basic idea into something much bigger, with its thin shred eventually exploding into something bruising and stomping. The self-titled album closer should stand out for praise as well, with its clean, cold start opening into a deep riff, with plenty of open space and nigh doomy presence building an atmosphere of dread.
It’s true that some tracks are more dynamic and complex than others, and that there’s some technical improvement to be sought on everything bar the guitar, but the gap from here to great is much narrower a margin than one would expect from a debut band pushing a rather old-school sound. Indeed, this is a very enjoyable listen in itself, a great achievement by Sectioned, and hopefully just a taster of what they can go on to do.
77/100
ELLEN SIMPSON
