LIVING GATE are a 4-piece formed after their bands toured together and they bonded over a shared appreciation of Death Metal, both old and new.  That, and a respect for each others musical "chops". The band members roots are spread wide, Belgium and the USA (Portland), but distance hasn't stopped them putting together this their debut EP.

The band's Facebook pages sums up their sound succinctly as "Raw drums blanketed by a vomit of menacing riffs and heaving guttural orations".  I'm not going to disagree with this.

Opening track "The Delusion Of Consciousness" is the perfect example of their statement, a fast and furious hurricane blast of noise hits you between the ears, rips your head off and pukes down your neck.

"Roped" does the same thing, but has a slower Doomier pace whilst setting about you.  Track one delivers the mortal wound, while track two toys with you for a bit, softening you up for track three, the title track "Deathlust", which is a short sharp stab, delivering the killing blow.

"Heaven Ablaze" however resurrects you only to batter you again and again, its drums and riffs pummeling you to a bloody pulp again.

Last track shares its name with the band, "Living Gate". I don't know what a "living gate" is, but it is the song which sums up their sound, all red raw drums and projectile vomiting of riffs.  It would make the girl in The Exorcist raise a bloodied devil sign before getting back to torturing a priest. And with its eerie guitar outtro, it is the creepy end to this nihilistic macabre selection of sounds.

I'm not a big fan of this genre of Metal, but credit where it is due, these guys obviously have a passion for this and sounded better delivering this than many of their peers.

This said, I am still not a fan of "heaving guttural orations". And why do all Death Metal bands have to have at least one song title so pretentious and up its own arse?  Is it to sound clever? Half the time the title is longer than the song, and sorry there is no way you can pick up that from the lyrics!