Self-released on August 13, 2018, "Pain", from U.K.'s one-man band IMMOLATED MOTH. Having released an E.P. in 2016, "Pain" marks the debut full length from mastermind Thom Bleasdale. Amazing how sometimes tragedy must strike in order for something brilliant to come to fruition. You will likely never see IMMOLATED MOTH on tour. Not because it is a one-man band. It is due to the disease that has Thom at times in so much pain he cannot move. Out of the ashes of his suffering is a very real tale told in his music. The properly titled, "Pain". Full of extreme metal that can borderline death and grind while pursuing some dark melodies.

"Suffer in Peace" has some ripping leads as the song's title is repeated in a continuous loop. This isn't the style of death metal written to prove a high level of brutality. It's very real, which makes it that more intense. Depicting his own trials and battles with his affliction. The grinding and scraping of the guitar accompanied by thrashy drum beats and a low breathy growl really capture his own torment. "Extinction" begins with a clean guitar town that makes its way in front of a captured breeze. Coming in after this is stomping style down tempo distorted sound. The vocals are spewing agony and even as the track progresses into a blast beat, the melodic structure emulates doom metal before slamming into some heavy murky groove.

While IMMOLATED MOTH is limited to when making music is allowed by the body and releases might be few and far between, this is very raw and worth it. It takes a lot of sit and play every instrument and track each one. To sum it up, this one man band is soaked in an obvious talent as a multi-instrumentalist. His ability to rise above and not allow tragedy to stop him from his passion is more than apparent in his playing. While is social media was hit with accusations of "no way can you really growl like that," he offered up a video of himself tracking vocals. He is the real deal. "Extinction" is tracked at over 7 minutes in length and you've gotta be wowed as towards the end the vocals are similar to that of THE ACCUSED when they did "The Hearse". The only difference this isn't cheesy. The moans and groans are a bit creepy and makes you wonder if these are the sounds of the dying.

The majority of the tracks on "Pain" run over 6 or 7 minutes. Taking multi influential twists and turns that include some jazz style bass playing, bluesy guitar parts, grindcore, death metal, doom, and thrash. "Heavy Rain" has an excellent bass sound both clean and distorted. Sounding a lot like ATHIEST, CYNIC, and SADUS. The leads are stellar, well placed and well played. Making "Heavy Rain" the shining moment for me. The execution, transitions, and direction are never boring or stagnant. While there are no real odd time signatures and the dirty grindy style sound is obviously self-recorded, don't let it fool from hearing the technical techniques that are occurring.

Overall the audio production isn't top notch but it fits the mood perfectly. "Pain" is a sick and agonizing real-life story that delivers more than a perfectly recorded death metal band that wrote lyrics based on reading a medical dictionary and describing an 80's B-horror movie. Sorry to say it Thom, but without your suffering, we wouldn't be able to hear such a wonderfully delivered extreme metal sound that defines suffering. Props to you for not letting it stop you. Brace yourself, folks, while the word "brutal" gets tossed around like a cheap hooker, this is real maximum carnage and skin scrapping metal. A taste of real raw brutality.