CD Reviews

However nothing prepared me for the vicious brutality contained within.

Having seen Ferox play live many times over the past year I knew their style of death metal and had certain expectations. By the end of opening salvo 'Ten Thousand Bodies' and 'Iscariot', however, these had been blown away as this was much heavier stuff than I had anticipated.

Very rarely have I felt uncomfortable listening to a record, the only other time I remember this feeling was the first time I listened to Slayer's 'Reigning Blood' (that being my first real introduction to anything even remotely death metal), but I can now add 'Insides Out At The Mortuary Gates' to the list.

Throughout the album the band's sound and lyrical content combine in a style of metal that merges old school death metal and grindcore to create an intense blast that doesn't let up for 35 minutes.

As musicians, Ferox excel on record even more than on stage with a ferocious tightness that creates a wall of noise which simply assaults the listener for the album's duration. With Pierre Blondin's blasting drums and Johnny Holloway's bass guitar providing a foundation which on occasion comes to the fore brilliantly, it is Matt Burdett's shredding guitar and vocal performance that stand at the top of Ferox's sound.

Matt Burdett's voice was the thing that really stood out to me on the record thanks to the extremity of his performance. Sounding almost like two separate vocalists he combined a growling roar with an ear splitting screech that added a sense of someone vocalising two divergent voices within his own head.

Matt of Ferox.

It was through Burdett's words as well that my uncomfortable feelings were really solidified as every song dealt with death and mutilation on a sickening scale.

It is this lyrical content which demonstrates the band's chosen genre of death metal, but somehow they seem to take it to an even more disturbing level than is often associated with the style and makes this definitely not something for the faint of heart of weak of stomach.

While the whole album is an excellent demonstration of truly brutal and extreme metal its real highlight comes at the very end in the form of the title track which demonstrates every facet of the bands talent brilliantly.

Starting out with a Black Sabbath aping intro and then elevating to the levels of ferocity demonstrated throughout the rest of the disc it presents itself as the Ferox track to show what this band are capable of as a whole unit.

'Insides Out At The Mortuary Gates' is undeniably the single most visceral and violent set of songs I have heard produced by a local band and, while the album may not be to everyone's tastes, if death metal is your choice then this is well worth picking up.