Review by Carl on January 9, 2024.

You've got to hand it to this dapper young gentleman called Brendan Dean, he chose a moniker for his one man project that is as fitting as it is awesome. Pukewraith, the mental images it conjures alone, it leaves me shuddering just to think of it.

Brendan, AKA Pukewraith, operates in the field of dank and mouldy death metal, located in that aural swamp where Autopsy, Impetigo, Necrophagia and Repulsion once used to roam. At it's fastest, Pukewraith unleashes it's wrath in the form of bludgeoning riffing that brings to mind Repulsion and the more uptempo parts of Autopsy, while being underpinned by uptempo percussive savagery, keeping proceedings straigth forward and blunt in execution. These primitive battering sections are interspersed with slowly crawling, heavy parts, like a bloated early Black Sabbath lurching forth. Some of the denser parts have these twisted guitar almost-melodies played over them, adding a haunting edge to the heavy death metal on offer. The addition of stomping midtempo heaviness allows for an extra dose of variety to creep in, and as a final stab to the abdomen, there are the excellent guitar leads, that at times even remind me of the kamikaze leads of Rick Rozz from Massacre, as well as what the Hoffman brothers used to do when they still were in Deicide. As a combining factor we have the gruff and growling deep vocals, establishing that dirty early underground vibe immediately, neatly combining all the elements present into a slimy and grimy package of old school death metal delight, heavy on stomp and sonic assault.

The soundmix fits this chunk of bloodsoaked gristle like a surgical glove. It's loud and heavy, but it's also balanced out more than adequate. Okay, perhaps that the vocals could've been fitted into the mix a bit more subtle, but the way the razor sharp guitars and clearly discernable bass have gotten their place in here more than make up for that. Even the programmed drums aren't all too shabby, in all honesty. Especially the way they plow their way through the double kick driven parts of tracks like 'Mire Stench' and 'Mucklord', that gets my blood pumping, alright. Pumping hard enough to make me forget that they do sound a tad lifeless, at least. All in all, this is the perfect production for a grimy old school death metal album like this Banquet Of Scum.

These days, we have more than enough bands that are playing this style of old school death metal, that's just a sober fact, but Pukewraith does it a little better as most of them do. This alone makes this full length more than worth the effort, and together with like-minded units such as Cryptivore, Torture Rack, Caustic Wound and Galvanizer, Pukewraith surely belongs to the vanguard of the new old school in my opinion.

Rating: 8 out of 10