Bonesaw
Out November 2013 through At War with False Noise (UK) & Unholy Anarchy Records (USA)
When I first heard of Aberdeen's Bonesaw while trawling the murky depths of the internet for heavy Scottish bands, I was instantly sold. Any band that self-deprecatingly describes themselves as 'Autopsy on a budget' is worth a listen in my book, and as soon as I checked out their splits with Abscess and Bone Gnawer I was hooked. Ugly, primitive death metal, played the way it should be, festering warts and all. Now with the forthcoming release of their second LP The Illicit Revue via At War With False Noise/Unholy Anarchy Records, they're spreading their vile intent even further.
The brilliantly lowbrow artwork courtesy of Dennis Dread should give you an idea of what you're in for with this release: demented, horrifying, tasteless, it's everything you could want from these purveyors of filth, and from the opening bars of 'The Forging Of Year Zero' onward, it's exactly what you get. A neanderthal stomp of a track, it drags its knuckles for a bit before they steadily ramp up the tempo, until the whole thing eventually culminates in a breakneck riot of teeth-rattling percussion and screeching guitar.
'Riot In The House Of Worship' is a punked-up slab of death that dabbles in d-beat, while 'Grave Insult' is a gradual winding of the screws, the slow pace making it no less unsettling. That Bonesaw can switch between these two extremes is a testament to their worship of the old school, where bands had variety in their songwriting, and weren't merely concerned with being the fastest or most technically proficient. Not to say that they aren't capable of ripping through some tight-as-a-gnat's-arse riffs, there's plenty of that on offer here too, most ably demonstrated in the short but sour blast of 'Instant Classic'.
The malicious prowl of Barry Henson's bass turns into a massive grooving riff, and so begins 'Crafted Deformity', an absolute belter of a track that boasts some truly puke-inducing growls from Andy Geraghty. Easily the best track on the album, if this doesn't have you smashing your skull off the walls, then maybe this death metal lark isn't for you?
The slow build of 'Granite Hell pt.II' makes me glad I've never ventured as far north as Aberdeen, if it inspires this sort of ambient terror, while the frantic pace of the track proper is enough to make me swear off even getting as close as Dundee. 'The Stench Of Dead Dirty Ass' is another death punk banger, and is probably as close to catchy as you're going to get here, the title of the track making me kind of glad the vocals are completely incomprehensible.
The doomed dirge-like intro to 'The Illicit Grotesque Revue' will make your blood run cold before they launch into a swirling maelstrom of raw fury. The relentless abuse is interrupted around the halfway point by more creeping death, lulling you into a false sense of security before the final minute of the track erupts in cacophony once more. The dynamics of the songwriting on this album will keep you on your toes, that's for sure, as evidenced by final track 'Satori pt.I', beginning as it does with more churning, atonal guitar courtesy of Sid Brew and Paul Gaunt. It's an odd choice to close the album, as it never really goes anywhere, content to merely stagger from disjointed riff to drunken roars.
Despite this final oddity on an album full of otherwise excellent tracks, Bonesaw have cemented their reputation as Scotland's premier exponents of creeping, crawling old-school death metal, and if you'd still rather throw on some Mental Funeral, Slowly We Rot or In Battle There Is No Law, then The Illicit Revue will sit nicely among your collection.
