VULNIFICUS (USA) – Invocation, 2022 🇬🇧
After a brief but surprising debut last year with the EP Innomination, they bring us months later a new work called Invocation, which contains wild brutal death metal in the form of five songs with a total duration of just 17 minutes.
VULNIFICUS was formed in 2021 by Wilson Sherels and Eston Browne, who despite being in the most absolute underground are not complete strangers, being both members of multiple formations, all of them framed in death metal in its most extreme forms (slam/brutal/technical, etc).
Wilson Sherels, in spite of his youth, since he is only 27 years old, has participated in countless bands and solo projects, showing himself as a skilled multi-instrumentalist in many of them still active, such as THE OUTER TORMENTOR or DARAKU. SHITA KANJU, demonstrating that his work as a vocalist is also very competent. For his part, Eston Browne is one of the halves of the duo that makes up the very remarkable ABOLISHING THE IGNOMINOUS, being the vocal part both here and in VULNIFICUS.
Staying within the strict parameters of brutal death metal, the duo strives to create something original within the genre’s own boundaries. The five tracks on this EP fly by, both because of their speed and their brevity. Wilson fires guitar riffs and bass lines at breakneck speeds on songs like “The Viral Virus” or “Coerced into Compliance”, but most of all he hits the drums with equal pounding fury. On his side, Eston gives us a vocal register so serious and powerful that it has nothing to envy with other mythical groups within brutal death, such as DISGORGE, DEEDS OF FLESH, DEMILICH, or DEVOURMENT, shouting each song with the style’s own theme (misanthropy, death, murder, etc.). Although there are also brief moments for experimentation, such as a couple of ambient intros in two of the songs that give it a certain futuristic vibe, and the entirely instrumental cut “Instruments of Indiscrimination”, which puts the distinctive note, going down with great speed and even incorporate sounds more typical of grindcore or industrial metal.
“Instigated Indignation” and “The Incredulous Invocation” close this dazzling EP with a flourish, whose chaotic and forceful sound makes it very pleasant and enjoyable.
The only negative point (beforehand) could be the excessive brevity. When you finish listening to it, it leaves you wanting more, something that also happened with their EP last year. The logical step would be for the next release to be a full-length work since the band has more than enough experience and creative quality (both in this and in its parallel projects) to carry out this task; however, if they offer us an EP of the same quality as this one, it will be also welcome.
