SPASTICUS is a Death/Thrash Metal band out of Palermo, Italy. In March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, they released their demo "Fuck Me Before I Die." Although the band has recently released a new EP, "Horror Chaos Death," their demo is also seeing a second release. If you're thinking the demo title sounds a bit juvenile and the cover art looks a bit crude, you might not be too far off. This is definitely more angst than evil, but then again it's a demo and it's Metal and the world is a messed up place so we might as well just calm the hell down and enjoy it while we can.

"Fuck Me Before I Die" is a classic Death/Thrash demo with five tracks just clearing the eleven-minute mark. One track barely breaks thirty seconds. The demo is a frenetic assault of lo-fi riffs, blast beats, and screaming. Like I said, classic. Personally, I find SPASTICUS more akin to hardcore '80's punk than modern Death or Thrash . . . which isn't a bad or surprising thing. I guess the only significant difference is the relative darkness of SPASTICUS. This is less social commentary and more horror, death, chaos-hence the trajectory to their follow-up EP.

Things I like about the demo: First, the riffs are as visceral as they are compelling. This is exactly what you want to from a demo-raw potential. There is enough here to imagine how good they could sound with better equipment and more time. Second, the bass lines are fat, nasty, and viscous. The bassist is so good, they named the third track after him! Third, I guess I'll go with the urgent energy of it all. This demo sounds like it just needed to get out or it was going to totally start breaking shit and peeing on the rug.

Best tracks are "Millennial Paradise," "Sentenced to Sickness," and "Slaughtered Sanity" for all the reasons noted above. As far as technical musicianship, nope. Lyrical depth, not happening. Compositional sophistication, uh-huh. But having said that, this is not a bad demo. As I mentioned earlier, it does what a demo should do and more than suggests that there could be some really good stuff coming from these lads in the future. It essentially says, this whole demo should be marinated for a year or two and then re-recorded after whatever lineup they settle on has played the songs ad nauseum and have discovered and surfaced all the awesomeness inherent in these tracks.

The way to approach SPASTICUS is to delve into this demo first. Soak it in and let it abuse you. And then turn around and snatch up their newest release, "Horror Chaos Depth," and measure the difference. With other bands you have to wait years to hear how they turn out. With SPASTICUS you can buy their newly released demo today, give it a listen, and then turn around and buy their debut album all in the same hour. Talk about instant gratification! Welcome to America.