Human Cull – Revenant

HUMAN CULL release ‘Revenant’ on June 1st 2018, this will be the UK Grind trio’s second full length after 2014s blast exodus ‘Stillborn Nation’.

On ‘Revenant’ HUMAN CULL push their already frantic crust-tinged blast-heavy grind of the last release into overdrive, featuring a huge production from Will Blackmon (Gadget, The Arson Project) and furious instrumental performances running in the style of ‘FETO’ era Napalm Death or ‘Human 2.0’ Nasum.

Songs run between monstrous fleet-fingered trem picking blast-fests to open riffing frantic d-beats but rarely drop below FAST. Lyrics are primarily about totalitarianism, following the thematic setting of an imagined medieval cyber punk future. Think of the cover of Anticapital and imagine living there, feelings of monochrome horror and anxiety blend with commentary on modern stupidity, terrorism and propaganda.

Performances are tightly controlled throughout ‘Revenant’ , layered chainsaw guitars and growling bass underpinned by clean and audible drums could almost be called clinical if it weren’t for the organic songwriting and gritty textures of call and response twin throat-wrenching vocals and crumbling valve-based distortion.

The band display clear death metal and crust influences here, and this is certainly the closest to death metal their sound has come. Strong tones from the likes of Unleashed, the ever present Swedeath classics like Entombed and Obituary are found rubbing shoulders with the angular notes of Discordance Axis and Doom, flowing together in one gribbly monstrosity of a release.

This album is the most polished example of contemporary grind from these veterans of the UK scene.