[Album Review]: REDIVIDER (US) - ‘Sounds of Malice’ LP.
I don't know how to describe why I like death metal so much. I know what the good shit is, but to put it into words would be mentioning 20 bands, and I don't know how you'd distinguish any of them. I could throw adjectives onto the page - pummeling, relentless, heavy, chaotic - and although all of these describe something about a sound, none of them really do much to convey how it feels to actually listen to the music.
I don't agree with Zappa about much these days, but dancing about architecture describes the exercise perfectly. It's always about context and genre, which (at least in my opinion) are the least interesting things about music. Florida death metal, brutal death metal, slam, Bay Area, Napalm Death, thrash vs. death vs. grind, Possessed and what-have-you. Contextualising death metal is less interesting than the way it makes you feel, but describing that is really, *really* hard.
Luckily for me, Redivider don't have much history to speak of, so I can nix context and stick to roughly the same amount of genre. The band was formed in 2021 by vocalist Jacob Spencer and guitarist Paul Nunavath, in Louisville, Kentucky. The only other band I know from there is Panopticon, who could not be more different. Anyway, Redivider - there was a 2022 demo, and Sounds of Malice is their first album.
The album fucking *slays.* Seven tracks, killer riff after killer riff, bringing to mind at various points 90s Gorguts(!), Cannibal Corpse, and Morbid Angel, maybe a touch of Cryptopsy or Decapitated. It's the more breakneck brand of dm - blasts, fast chugs and tremolo-picking; gross and dissonant in all the best ways. It manages to pull groove out of its frenzy, and the guitars weave around each other to make some really really memorable sections. The solos are great, chaotic and melodic in equal measure. The variety of classic dm sounds Redivider works into the 29-minute album is impressive. Opener ‘Devoured and Quartered’ displays all of these attributes nicely, and even manages to include an almost death-doomy interlude a short ways into the track. There are some nice Cryptopsy-esque bass clangs towards the end of ‘Apocalyptic Waste’. ‘Fratricide's intro has some really nice Cannibal Corpse-y stabs. Each track has its neat little hook to... well, *hook* you in, and it's all good fun.
You can tell this was made by real 90’s DM aficionados, because while it definitely has a very clear, modern sound, it doesn't go overboard. The album was mixed by Nunavath himself, and - adding to its death metal bona fides - mastered by Dan Swano. The sound is a winner, and I have no complaints - but I do have some notes. One - I prefer the raw sound of the demo, whose three tracks have all been re-done on Malice. Two - Malice is not as dirty as Cannibal Corpse or as ritualistic as Morbid Angel, and it's nerdier and more introverted than both. It feels like a bedroom project that's trying really hard to capture the intensity of a scene that shone live - and inexplicably, it kinda succeeds. Three - I can't tell if the drums are real or not; they could be, but there aren't any clear indicators of a captured performance. This is probably my only real gripe with the sound.
See below for ‘Bask In The Rot’ official video, via REDIVIDERVEVO:
Fourth observation. There's a lineup listed on bandcamp and in the press release, but I get the impression that they were mostly gathered to play live, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that ‘Sounds of Malice" was mostly written by the two founding members. Which isn't to say that the other members - especially second guitarist Jake Atha - are slacking. But if there's an actual band/drum performance here, I would have liked it to be more obvious. Like, the demo *definitely* has real drums on it.
Link to LP title-track music video, via the artists’ Youtube Channel:
The lyrics are about DnD. It's a concept album, I guess - the press release describes what each song is about in detail - but but there are no lyrics for me to look into on Bandcamp, or Youtube Music.
Which is a shame, because I think there's something here, and the more I listen to Redivider, the more interested I'm becoming in unpacking what Spencer is actually saying.
Maybe that'll come later.
