Here we have a three way split offering on brutal death metal label Lacerated Enemy Records featuring an international brutal death metal cast; Japan’s Vomit Remnants, Czech Republic’s Godless Truth and Carnivorous from the US.

Starting things off are Vomit Remnants with three new songs of New York-flavored groove/slam death metal. My introduction to Vomit Remnants was when I caught their performance at the 1999 Ohio Death Fest in Cleveland. While their music was hardly original, the energy they displayed was impressive, never in my life have I seen a 5′4" Asian with a bass guitar in hand jump so high in the air during the band’s slam/pit riff segments. I then decided to pick up their Supreme Entity full length and was disappointed to find the material on the effort failed to capture the atmosphere the band displayed live and didn’t bother listening to any material of theirs until I picked up this album recently on a whim.

The first, and most obvious thing that stood out about their three tracks is the poor production, which gives the drum a very mechanical sound and is a little distracting. Though the band underwent a complete overhaul since I heard them in 1999, the material the new line-up has produced is along the same lines as their debut effort, with a heavy early Dying Fetus influence evident throughout. The riffing is consistent with what Dying Fetus wrote on Infatuation With Malevolence, Purification Through Violence and Killing On Adrenaline and is filled with tons of pit riffs, breakdowns, blasts and gurgled snarls. The material isn’t bad, but it’s hardly going to convert me into a fan, but it does show promise, especially on "Vomiting Hideous Cadaver".

The next three tracks are by a band I’m fairly familiar with, Godless Truth. Having listened to their last two full length albums, Self Realization and Arrogance Of Supreme Power, I knew what to expect when giving their three tracks a list; well played and produced brutal death metal that’s seriously lacking in it’s own musical identity, which is exactly what they offer on this release. The material is along the lines of most generic brutal death metal bands who worship Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding and the like.

Last up are the only band on the split I’m unfamiliar with; San Francisco’s Carnivorous consisting of members of Odious Mortem and Severed Savior. Being familiar with both acts I had a reasonable idea of what to expect and they delivered exactly what I thought they would; high paced technical brutality. Musically the three tracks remind me a bit of Severed Savior, Severe Torture, Inveracity and Lust Of Decay. Although the material is fast, brutal and technical it’s honestly not very memorable, but then again I’ve never been a big fan of high paced Californian brutality.

On the whole, this isn’t a bad split release and all three bands do show promise, but I honestly don’t see me listening to this album again in the future. Had the Vomit Remnants material had the meatier production of Godless Truth and the less mechanized drum sound it may be worth more consideration, but this three way split is nothing more than well played, but completely unmemorable, brutal death metal. Not bad. Not great. Just average.

Written By: Teufel