Hailing from Sweden, the power trio GORE BRIGADE seem to be in their infancy with this the band's debut EP. The band make a promise for the self-titled EP to be ruthless and energetic death-grinding metal. Honestly, I started to feel a bit of dread at the thought of reviewing what I thought was going to be a generic sounding extreme metal album. But after listening to "Gore Brigade", I'll admit I was very, very wrong, and this is anything but generic!

Proceedings open up with "March Of The Gore Brigade". No time for suspense or lengthy build ups, this is a 90 second hurricane of a track! Drummer Jon must be some kind of cyborg in order to maintain that level of intensity, whilst Jonny is an absolute beast behind the mic. I want to know how the band got that crushing tone from the guitars! Much of what can be said for this song can be said for track number two, "A Wretched Taste". Although this time, the agony/delight is much longer (2 minutes 35 seconds). The band cite THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER as key influences. With the effortless switching between ear piercing shrieks demonic lows provided by vocalist Jonny, it's easy to see why as they pay homage to their heroes here.

Comparatively speaking, "An Army Of The Reanimated" is slower than the two previous but the intensity is still maintained! I'm getting a more melodic death metal feel, especially with the guitars going for a more aesthetic tone rather than straight up in your face distorted chaos, which makes for a pleasant contrast. "World Wide Death" seems to borrow the best elements of thrash metal with Slayer-esque solos. Solos - the plural, as there's multiple in this song - which would make Kerry King doth his metaphorical cap in respect. Normally, I prefer solos where emotion and careful selection of notes takes precedence over speed for speed's sake. However, on this occasion, I think that the blistering speed of the solos match the sheer chaos and intensity of the rest of the band, which works perfectly.

There's nothing pretty about "Show Me The Gore". It's simply 2 minutes of grinding death brutality. There's nothing poetic or flowery about the lyrics too, with the constant chants of "show me the gore". That would go down very well in a live setting I feel though. The EP ends with "The Rot Becomes You". I love the contrast of textures in this song, especially with the strings laying down a solid crunching groove, the drums maintaining a blistering pace, and Jonny again aimlessly shifting between highs and lows. I'm getting a very strong HATE ETERNAL vibe here, and I'm wondering how much influence the death metal legends have had on the band. Either way, it's a strong finish to the album.

Overall, "Gore Brigade" is an excellent debut EP for the band, and fantastic advertisement for the band. I'm curious to see how their next release pans out. I'd like to see more variety in this with more variety in song writing styles, some longer songs as I do worry that another grind style album would be too repetitive. With that being said, they have showed be the gore, and now I'm a fan!