Give me a moment while I calm myself down after listening to OVER A BARREL's album called "Self-Inflicted Wounds". I am generally not someone who listens to extreme death metal or extreme grindcore, but I thought I'll give it a go. The anger and hate in the album are felt to the bone. Think of SLAYER but three times heavier. I can listen to SLAYER at the right time but I could never put myself to listening to them every day. For someone like me who has anger issues, extreme metal music pours more gasoline on the fire. "Self-Inflicted Wounds" was released in March 2022 and it will take you on a rollercoaster of strong emotions. Hats off for this dua Imer Bigi and Luca Cocconi, coming from Italy. They started working on this album during the pandemic. You can hear it in every song anger, sadness, destruction and death multiple all by two or three. The album consists of what death metal is all about heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, deep growling vocals, powerful drumming ( aggressive to say the least is an understatement) and chord progressions that keep the listener on edge.

I personally could never figure out what they are singing about, lyrically. That is more a preference in music. But I do wonder if anyone actually understands the vocals in death metal. To me, it's about the whole music as a whole that defines what death metal is. I can't choose a favorite song from "Self-Inflicted Wounds" as I couldn't get my head around the emotions of each song. The one song that really hit me hard was "Cyberwaste", which is the last track on the album. It gave me this vibe of completely wiping out humanity. Extreme, I know, but isn't that what death metal is all about. The drums in the track are prevalent as is the distorted guitar riff. I couldn't even figure out what he was singing about. Just felt the rage. All the tracks, specifically "Dripping Blood", are possibly the exact songs that create moshpits from hell. Imer Bigi nails the death growls on each and every track. The single that debuted the album, "No Warnings No sign" showed the death metal world what they are all about. The track sets the vibe of the whole album. The song has a super intense evil laugh, that was really a beautiful addition.

So as this is the first time I get through a whole death metal album, I am not sure I can get through another one. I respect the genre, but I personally can't handle the intensity. If you like a lot of noise then this album will rock your world and let out the angry demon inside loose. OVER A BARREL is amazing at what they do though. I am sure their next album will be more amazing.