Review by Carl on October 29, 2024.

Nigh on an illegible logo? Check. Impossible band name? Check. A cover depicting a writhing mass of tentacles and inhuman beings? Check. Well, with all those cliches in place, I have a pretty good idea about what this is going to sound like. Next stop: Slam City!

As it turns out, I need to stop with making assumptions like that, because this sounds quite different from what I expected. It looks like this is one of those 'the book and its cover' deals because while the cover screams 'slamming death metal' at me, this band is actually a lot more than that. Yes, there are of course the almost mandatory gutturals present, and there are indeed some slamming sections involved, but the distinguishing factor here is the guitar playing. I have a sneaking suspicion that axe-slinger Lee Bong-soo is no stranger to the works of acts such as Morbid Angel, Rebaelliun, and Angelcorpse because the riffs and tricks he utilizes here bear a big resemblance to those bands. It's a pretty busy and intricate style of playing, and it has to be said that this approach works very well when combined with the brutal death metal elements included. In place of tracks going from blast to slam and back again, there is a more thought-out and technically proficient way of composing at play here, and I have to admit that this method of riffing goes extremely well within the band's blasting and slamming frame, sounding aggressive and brutal while still maintaining a welcome sort of transparency over the music.

The production is more on the expected side, with a digital sound to the percussion, and the blubbering vocalizations well up front, but luckily with a good deal of attention for the great guitar work too. While this type of sound engineering isn't completely my cup of tea, I will admit that I have heard it worse throughout the years, so I'm going to have to admit that it isn't that big of a nuisance here. The music sounds massive and punishing, while the riffing comes through in well enough fashion to clearly hear what is going on, and in the case of this band, that's more than a good thing.

As I see it, Xenotropic Mutation is a band well on its way to establishing a face of its own, and that is something that can only be cheered on. If the idea of splicing the genes of late 90's Morbid Angel with those of Guttural Secrete or Vulvectomy appeals to you, then these South Korean gentlemen are a band you must check out, because this is some very promising stuff.

Rating: 8 out of 10