Death metal is best played straight down the line and things do not get more straightforward than Turkey’s Engulfed. A band of no mean experience and formed by members of Decaying Purity and Burial Invocation, this is their first EP (25 minutes) and its as crushing a piece of death metal as you’ll find this side of the Bosphorus (actually they’re from Kadıköy which is the Asian side of the Istanbul Straits but let’s not quibble). The vocals are guttural, the guitars a distorted buzz saw, with some excellent matching soloing, while the drumming a studied combination of measured assassination and total war. To be honest I started out thinking there wasn’t much to distinguish Engulfed from a lot of other death metal pretenders out there, but it slowly begins to get under the skin like a rusty bag of nails fired from a rapid-firing nail gun.

It reminds me of some of the more relentless blackened death metal bands out there but with a more old school death metal sound thrown in, perhaps the early sound of bands like Autopsy. Like all good death metal bands the overall effect is like a primal force more than a piece of music and the slower parts on songs like Summoned and Supreme Lord of Blasphemy only allow you to have a breather and contemplate the continuing onslaught to come. There are some excellent, well executed riffs, particularly on first track Triumph of the Impious.

But the best, as is always wise, is left until last – and with a title like Inseminated With Demon Seed you know it just has to be good. It ends in a mesmerising, vortex-like guitar arrangement that fits so well with the cover I can’t help thinking these guys know exactly what they are doing. Show it to your granny and even she will understand what death metal is all about. She may never speak to you again – but she will understand. The first and the last track stand out for me but there are no weak songs here really. A fine introduction to the band and a solid addition to what is clearly a burgeoning death metal scene in Turkey. Now I’m just going round to grandma’s house. I have something I need her to listen to.

(8/10 Reverend Darkstanley)

http://www.facebook.com/engulfedtr