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