Parasitized - "Existence Unveiled"
February 2, 2012
Producer: Dan Foster
All good things come to he who waits. In the case of Parasitized, at the time a quintet of Death Metal destruction who's origins reside in Hull, England, had to wait an excruciating 32 months for the seemingly impossible to happen: To have a record label pick up their debut EP entitled "Existence Unveiled", and release it upon the unsuspecting ears of Death Metal elitists across the globe, revitalizing a struggling band's career.
"Existence Unveiled" is a six-track EP of total mayhem and pandemonium. Everything on this release clicks: the instrumentation, vocal levels, atmosphere and even jacket artwork.
Dan Foster managed to record and catch this band in an environment where they sound so raw and bombastic you'd think they were recording at the bottom of a stairwell!! This release is so incredibly loud and in your face it knocks you down into your seat and straps you down for a listen. However, on top of how intensely loud this release is, you truly see how organic Parasitized really is. The riffs of Adam Blyth and Sam Wilson slap you across the face and fester in your brain, their leads are so wildly chaotic yet contain a sense of melody that most bands can't pull off when trying this approach and Joel Haslam's bass is not totally buried beneath everything else that is happening. Furthermore, the consideration of the bass on this EP is in my opinion one of the reasons why it is such a crushing listening experience. Because when it's only seems to be the drums filling the low-end of any release it leaves the release and the listener with a somewhat hollow feeling. With this EP there is no mercy shown and there's no room to breathe. Haslam's bass attack will be ringing in your ears long after finishing this EP.
With all the talk of guitars I must mention the performance of drummer Tom Walker is top-notch. With very precise blast-beats, smart quick and tasteful fills sometimes involving splash cymbal accents futhermore with an overall playing intensity to be reckoned with, Tom reminds me personally of Jon Rice of Job For A Cowboy fame.
Perhaps the performance on this recording that stunned me the most was that of vocalist Tom Blyth. Tom is extremely proficient vocalist. His timing and phrasing is beyond perfect but what made my jaw drop the most is how high his pitch can go. A lot of the great Death Metal vocalists are very capable of changing pitch mid-breath flawlessly but with Tom it's his ability to go so high it almost seems inhuman and you almost think he is going to collapse his lungs. When Parasitized becomes more well known Tom's skills will become an inspiration to many aspiring Death Metal vocalists I can only believe.
"Existence Unveiled" clocking in at 23 minutes is just merely a taste for things yet to come. Thanks to Blast Head Records, the Canadian distribution that took on the task of releasing this EP. Parasitized has now started to play more shows and even had the honor of opening for Ulcerate, a very proficient Technical Death Metal group. However, most importantly, they have finally started to write new material. Be on the look-out for their debut full-length in the future, if it's anything like their extremely promising EP, Parasitized will have a bright future ahead of them.
My Killer Kutz: "Beyond The Frontiers of Pain", "Flesh Harvest" & "Existence Unveiled"
