Horde Casket - Plague Supremacy EP (2022)

Horde Casket is one of those brutal death outliers whose persistence is notable; a thousand other groups might drop an album or two and then disappear from the niche, these guys have been staying active in the underground these last 15 years, and are now five full-lengths old. While a few of these have been decent, like Slab of Infinite Butchery, they've hardly set my world on fire, but they're certainly competent, and this new digital Plague Supremacy EP offers an 18-minute whirlwind tour of what they bring to the table, with some fresh production, another of their great cover arts, and spoiler: their best songwriting to date. A few of these tunes were put out as singles to test the waters, but they're dressed up here with some decent instrumentals and introes, like the dark and brooding organs and slasher pianos of "Cast Into a Hellish Realm of Horror" and "Drowning in the Depths of Demented Illusions". It's almost like the whole thing is a brutal death metal giallo, although truncated like the necks of some of the victims.

But the real meat are the tunes like the title track, "Tyranny of Blood" and "Raining Chunks", swollen with the start/stop blast beats, roiling tremolo picked guitars and choppy momentum that are hallmarks of the brutal USDM scene which Horde Casket champions. Here they've got this all rather well balanced, it's nothing new, but constantly exciting and gets the hackles up and the pulse quickened. You've got some pinches, guttural grumbles, and lots of fucking chugging, with some ludicrous double bass that will spin your noggin right off your neck, but as flashy as some components might be, it's really how Plague Supremacy all comes together that will impress you, from the hammering verse rhythms to some really epic and awesome lead sequences (I'm lookin at you, "Tyranny of Blood"). This is seasoned, carnal craftsmanship, pure capability, produced just right, and I can't imagine some label like Sevared wouldn't snap this up and get a proper product out into your hands.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://hordecasket.bandcamp.com/

Horde Casket - Melted Together (2020)

I think brutal death metal has to be one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult sub-genre from which to standout. There's such a mechanical demand for some of the musical tropes common to the niche, and bands like Horde Casket do their best to fill these in, and if I were judging simply by a checklist, then I'd stay they fill in or obliterate a whole lot of those boxes. Ridiculous blast beats are all over the place, as well as hyper chugging and dextrous little hand exercise riffs that must clearly tax the players' tendons after a rehearsal session or live set. The vocals are their normal mix of harsh guttural and harsher rasp, in the tradition of your Carcasses and Deicides, and the overall momentum of the album is utterly fucking relentless with a slightly noisy mix that is like to give you a headache if you're just not attuned to what you're normally going to get out of the genre.

The issue at hand is that, with all of the obvious physical temerity and extremity that they are pouring into this release, it almost entirely fails to stick. There might be a few tricks up their sleeves like the walls of wailing guitars they bleed over the thrust of "Nocturnal Transformation", or the broken chugs below the inhuman blasting of "Disease of the Deceased", but it's usually just business as usual from a band that has always hovered between average (Bloodfiends, Landscape of Cadavers) and decent (Xenopocalypse, Slab of Infinite Butchery). I like the frenzied pacing of the leads, they always give the music an added sense of death metal escapism, and if you like the choppy slamming rhythm guitars matched up against non-stop pounding drums, there will be moments for you to get your dance on. There are some really great growl placements here that resonate, but just not consistently, and across all departments, Horde Casket doesn't lag behind much of the competition, but this is assuming you only want the methodical brutal death metal...

I honestly think the band could slow down or de-escalate itself once in awhile to create a greater dynamic punch to it, maybe throw in a less discordant whipping lead guitar, or make a crunchy groove riff that is actually catchy, where the listeners will get hooked to the chord patterns. Like so much of the brutal death metal, this one looks so bad-ass with its cover art, song titles, the band's name has always been pretty cool, but I fear that this stuff has become so commonplace that it just lacks a genuinely evil punch due to its mathematical commitments. If you are mining the rosters of Sevared, Pathologically Explicit, New Standard Elite and Unique Leader and like most of what you hear, then Horde Casket is unquestionably worthy of your time, but this one didn't leave me with much to remember afterwards other than the bruises.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://hordecasket.bandcamp.com/

Horde Casket - Xenopocalypse (2017)

Horde Casket's fourth album Xenopocalypse proves to me a more unified, conceptual bludgeoning which pays homage to science fiction horror invasion scenarios in what must be the most direct and unforgiving manner ever...30+ minutes of ceaseless, staggering brutality that at the very least offers some oneupmanship of their prior full-lengths, even if it's not the heaviest and fastest act in the genre that you've ever experienced. One would hope that this might give it a little more of an edge in such a crowded niche of the death metal genre, but where I feel like this one is clearly superior to its predecessor Bloodfiends, and has superior production to their very solid sophomore Slab of Infinite Butchery, it still doesn't stand too far above the heads of its peers as far as songwriting or ambition.

That said, I would not be quick to write this off if you're a purist for the sort of brutality developed in lieu of groundbreaking acts like Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse, or in particular if you're a fan of Californian acts in the medium like Deeds of Flesh, Flesh Consumed or Inherit Disease, because if nothing more, it's well enough crafted stuff that keeps you entertained, if not guessing. I liked the use of the ambient instrumental parts and samples here, they help flesh out the atmosphere of the record, but I only wish they'd include a little more variety in the meat of the material, the death metal itself. Sure, you'll occasionally hear little guitar bits that veers off to the unknown in cuts like "Blood Scorched Earth", but this is all rooted in the blasting, chugging, tremolo picking you'd expect, and while the riffs are better executed and mildly more memorable than on the album previous, and the tempos a little more varied, so much of it treads on familiar ground as opposed to the alien or 'weird' that you'd really hope for when delving into subject matter with such potential as Xenopocalypse.

But it sticks enough landings to make it to the scoring round...the leads, while not catchy, flail around above the roiling, pounding, punishing low end of the riffs like eels or snakes cut in half. They rarely if ever settle for cheap slam grooves here, instead relying on constant brickwork and fret exercises to perk up the listener's attention and never let he or she get quite comfortable. Even were they do, as in the verse of "Planetary Obliteration", they thread enough in there so it feels like the groove isn't too cheap or effortless, more like an engine breaking down and then repairing itself as they thrust into another volatile blast. Small waves of arpeggios and such might seem a little passe for the style, but they keep the listener apprised of which side of the death metal spectrum Horde Casket strives for. The vocals are unrelentingly brutal gutturals, but they seem a little more empowering than in a lot of cases where it becomes monotonous and boring...these give me an Immolation feel which works well contrasted against the far more spry and energetic instrumentation. Along with Slab, this is one of their better albums, and where its so difficult to make a name for oneself in the sub-genre, these guys are another band who seem like they only need a fraction more of a distinction...certainly the raw materials are here through their ability to make the punishing performances seem easy.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/hordecasketdm/

Horde Casket - Bloodfiends (2015)

I wish I could say there was some further dynamic growth for these Oklahoma/Texas brutes, but Bloodfiends doesn't deviate greatly from the formula the band sharpened on 2010 sophomore Slab of Infinite Butchery. Granted, for purists of that brutal death metal window of the mid to later 90s, in which bands like Suffocation, Cryptopsy and Cannibal Corpse had left an indelible impression upon the legions of would-be's and hopefuls in their wake, I don't know that that will prove much of an obstacle to enjoying what punishment they do mete out here. Horde Casket is not a band that defines or pushes at any real boundaries. They seem satisfied with a competent emulation of a style they love, and they keep it about as conventional to that form as they possibly can.

And that style is a midpoint between the traditional brutal death metal pioneered by acts like the ones I listed above, and playing catch-up with the more technical acts that have been saturating the 21st century. With an emphasis on the former. Lots of chugging stop/start patterns set-up bursts of quicker riffing progressions that capture the choppy, surgical and clinical feel of their peers, but they rarely unload any memorable or catchy patterns, and even where they do, that's usually on the first couple tracks on the disc, like opener "Back Country Meth Massacre", a re-recording from the band's 2008 debut Landscape of Cadavers. The vocals are a solid grunt inspired by someone like Chris Barnes, only faster and in syncopation with the rhythmic pacing being banged out on the drums and guitar tracks. Bass lines are punchy, solid and very apparent here, giving the mix an even, clear balance against the other instruments, and I would say with certainty that this is the best produced of their albums I've heard to date, a lot more polished and rich than Slab or the band's cruder debut. Competent, well executed brute-craft...

But it does come with a few flaws. For one, I don't really like the lead tone, which isn't used so often but feels like it stands out and stings the ears a little much against the pounding backdrop. There is very little difference between the tracks in terms of content...you'll get the constant chug/burst I noted above, a staple of the genre, and a few breakdown riffs which at best can give you some death/thrash neck jerking but don't feel much fresher than the hyperactive flurries that cede the songs to them. It's also a pretty short album, at least the new, original songs. Roughly 22 minutes, which is not unusual for this style of music, but not once does it take any chances...the weird, guttural glitching intro to "Cerebral Dissection" (another track redundant to the debut) is about the only time any sort of left turn is implicated, and that's over all too quickly. Bloodfiends is consistent, perhaps two consistent, and those looking for atmosphere or a deeper listening experience will be left dry.

The band does round the new and re-recorded material off with a selection of live cuts that swell the length up to around 39 minutes overall, but while these are enough to leave you with confidence that Horde Casket offer a comparable live experience to the studio offerings, they don't sound all that impressive, with the vocals a bit louder, the kick drums almost feeling like coherent static and the guitars, as busy as they are, rather washed out in the back ground. In sum, Bloodfiends feels like a well-meaning and corpulent statement that the band is still flailing its limbs about, but the quality of the material puts a halt to any sense of progression or improvement one might have hoped for after the leap that Slab had made over its predecessor. Not bad at all, but there are a lot of records super similar to this one, on their label Sevared and elsewhere; it isn't really crazy or distinct enough to stand out.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/hordecasketdm/

Horde Casket - Slab of Infinite Butchery (2010)

Slab of Infinite Butchery lands Horse of Casket firmly in the company of many of its gruesome peers in the 21st century: visually, aesthetically and aurally brutal enough to draw the eyes and ears of those on the prowl for more of that pummeling intensity that bands like Suffocation, Deeds of Flesh, Cryptopsy, Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding and Cannibal Corpse made manifest through the 90s. Once again, the band has a great album title that immediately begs attention, and they recruited the inimical Jon Zig to create one of his better cover images, a plaza of ghastly impalement that seems as if you're staring into one of the public works of the Abyss, or the Nine Hells themselves! Relevant to my own interests, and no doubt to the scads of salivating gore mongers who devour Sevared offerings such as this, like slices at an afternoon pizza buffet.

At the cost of alienating some minority who enjoyed the drier early 90s din of Landscape of Cadavers, this is a work of hostile clarity. The bass drums are quite deep and fulfilling, and you can really feel the pump of the bass guitar lines racing along the underside of the harried, spurious rhythm guitar. The broad, guttural breadth of the vocal creates a more ominous narrator into this torture porn underworld, and they've got a little more of the toilet bowl swish that is so rampantly popular. But most importantly, the whip-like passes of lead guitar are brighter and more audible than on the debut (one of my major complaints there), and the overt increase in dynamic range among the riffs is far more demanding of a listener's attention, without sacrificing the overall brevity of the album (excluding the bonus demo tracks). Slower, chugging sequences are far more gut churning and slammable (if not at all unique), and the pinches and squeals spike straight into the ear. The blasts here, while also not incredibly distinctive in a field of comparable acts, are steamrollers against which the winding labyrinth of guitars pop and smear.

Not that all the whirlwind athletics of the instruments manifest into truly memorable progressions, but I can say I wasn't bored whatsoever through the half an hour or more of newer material. A lot of the riffs could truthfully be interchanged between tracks, and though the song duration runs from a briefer 2 minute burst ("Nemesis Delivered to the Parallel Crypts") to a voluptuous five minutes ("Cardiopulmonary Regurgitation") there isn't a massive difference in direction. That said, they've given themselves more room to play around in, and Horde Casket is nothing if not immediate and exciting. They don't hover around into the later rounds waiting to wear you out; they present you with a flurry of fists straight away, going for the TKO. Clearly there are some parallels to the sounds of West Coast acts like Severed Savior, Sepsism, Inherit Disease, Pathology and so forth, in just how ruthless and contemporary Slab of Infinite Butchery comes across, but at the same time it remains loyal to the 90s forefathers. Pretty cool, but primarily targeted at an audience used to such a relentless architecture.

The aforementioned bonus tracks hail from their 2008 promo disc, and are largely redundant with the debut album, but they fit in well enough and many people picking up Slab of Infinite Butchery are unlikely to have even heard Landscape of Cadavers; but as one might expect, they're not the equal of the busier, better joints they'd written for the sophomore. All told, this is a solid step forward for Horde Casket, even if it does still lack the incredibly sticky songwriting or the virtuoso-level progressive elements present in other acts like Decrepit Birth or The Faceless. Fans of Abnormality, Deeds of Flesh, and anything else I listed above should at least check the album out, and if they continue this steady inclination for their third full-length we could be in for a teeth-hammering, brain-mulching treat.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horde-Casket/292253097454914

Horde Casket - Landscape of Cadavers (2008)

I was initially drawn to Landscape of Cadavers for a number of superficial reasons: the heavily stylized artwork was appealing, the title was aesthetically perfect for a death metal record and hell I even loved the band's name, vague enough that I wanted to figure out what the band was all about.  Upon listening through it, the attraction dissolved, not that they've put in an immensely poor showing on this debut, but Horde Casket (whose members hail from the Texas/Oklohama region) simply wasn't peddling anything that you couldn't acquire elsewhere, even a decade earlier, in the field of pure, gore-obsessed brutality. Production and songwriting here are second tier at best, choppy and suffocated with its own intensity, but that's probably the worst I could say for it.

Clearly Suffocation played a huge role in not only inspiring, but shaping Horde Casket's approach to the genre, so expect a lot of semi-technical thrust, staccato rhythm guitar mutes flying all over the place and occasional spurts of tremolo despotism like someone having trouble with a stubborn ketchup packet over their French fries. The lower fidelity mix of the album recalls albums Effigy of the Forgotten, Breeding the Spawn, and to some extent the first few Cannibal Corpse efforts, which is reinforced by the blunt guttural vocals, which to me resembled some of the faster paced Chris Barnes inflections (with a little Mullin and Corpsegrinder blendered in for good measure). In fact, though it might just have to due with the band's production budget limitations so early in the game, Landscape of Cadavers seems intent on resembling its 90s forebears more than the ultra-brickwalled modernity going on through the 'oughts. For some listeners, that will prove refreshing, and others it might seem meek and dated, but I think the music is riffy and busy enough to distract the ear away from any such hurdles, even if it isn't ultimately that interesting.

The guitars are fairly spry, thin and punchy in conjunction, resembling the older Deeds of Flesh records where I always had the impression that the potency of what they WANTED to play just didn't translate to what was pouring out of my speakers. That said, they inject a lot of death/thrash like vivacity alongside the brute fundamentals. This is an album of explosions, like a chain of landmines going off in meticulously plotted succession. Bass is dry and murky while the rhythm guitars are clattering away, but at a few points it will be left on its own via some fill to remind you that it's actually there. The vocals are nothing outrageously new or compelling, but there's a bit of sustain and reverb to them that bounces them around the drum tones. And speaking of which, this is yet another monstrous, inhuman performance involving loads of blasts and rumbling walls of double bass, the but the latter feel suppressed slightly by the guitars. Probably the worst offense here are the leads, though, which are simply smothered by everything else. They'll start tearing out this frenzied flight of notes (like that near the close of "Repository Necrotic Inception") which hang barely at the edge of perception...

Again, most of these flaws can probably be written off to budgetary constraints rather than any ill intention of the musicians, but those solos should be front and center, or at least more level with the rhythm section. For if Landscape of Cadavers lacks something, it's atmosphere. Tracks like "Back Country Meth Massacre" and "House of the Repulsive Mortifying" are fun enough if you're just seeking out more of the same you've heard from the rosters of Unique Leader, Sevared, or its own Pathologically Explicit Recordings imprint (from Spain); yet overall the riffs aren't memorable enough to serve as a breakthrough in a scene crowded to the point of bursting. Horde Casket has no delusions about itself, and if you're in the mood for 24 minutes of head pounding circa Deeds of Flesh, Suffocation, Gorgasm, Severed Savior, Human Mincer and Flesh Consumed, then cannibalize to your heart's content. I've heard far worse, but the superior sophomore outing Slab of Infinite Butchery is a better entry point for new listeners.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horde-Casket/292253097454914