
Anomaly in progress
-- Anomalism --
07/06/2019
Stijn Daneels

Album genres:
■ | Death Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Mike Palmer | Vocals, rhythm guitar |
■ | Josh Koop | Lead guitar, backing vocals |
■ | James Gsols | Bass, backing vocals |
■ | Nigel Mason | Drums |
Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.
Anomalism is a Canadian brutal death metal band formed in 2018. “Parasitic
Spawn” is their debut EP, released independently and sent us by Asher Media Relations.
It consists of 5 tracks for a good 18 minutes of death metal!
The destruction begins with “Vicious Fiction,” a tune that smoothly
ticks off all the brutal boxes: gory grunts, crushing distorted riffs, pounding
drums. It isn’t a fast track, but that doesn’t sacrifice its overall brutality,
I did feel that the song closed off pretty abruptly without giving any real
closure. Next up is a faster and more chaotic tune called “Cryptosphere.” This
particular track starts off very strong with vicious beats and equally raw
vocals but then slows down to a similar pace to “Vicious Fiction.” Too bad,
since it breaks off much of the momentum Anomalism was building up during the
beginning of this “Cryptosphere” track.
Track 3 is the title track of “Parasitic Spawn,” and this song is definitely
one of the highlights of this debut release. A continuous barrage of mosh pit
inducing death metal beats, sharp riffs and guttural vocals that doesn’t skip a
single beat throughout its 3-minute runtime! Next up is “In Plagues Of
Cognizance,” a melodic tune with thunderous guitar riffs, an excellent solo in
the middle part and wrapping up with a nice deathcore twist. And finally there’s
“The Waiting Room,” a short track that serves as one last portion of the same
brutal death metal you’ve already heard in the earlier tracks. Nothing more,
nothing less!
All in all, Anomalism’s first outing is a solid release that, aside from
some relatively weak tracks, has some good things going for it. Particularly in
the third and fourth tracks wherein the ferocious beats and the melodic guitar
work respectively do a great job in making Anomalism shine. While it lacks any
real “wow” factor nor reinvents the death metal wheel, this EP is still worth checking
out if you dig this kind of extreme metal! Here’s the lyric video for “Vicious
Fiction.”
70/100