{"id":645520,"date":"2026-08-19T14:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645520\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T14:03:13","slug":"utilize-the-remains-meaningless-existence-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645520\/","title":{"rendered":"Utilize the Remains – Meaningless Existence Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It is summer, and summer is for MOAR SLAMS!!! 2026 hasn\u2019t seen the most plentiful harvest from the most cavebrained of death metal subsets, but with choice items from acts like Glassbone<\/strong><\/a>, Utter Scorn<\/strong><\/a>, Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy<\/strong><\/a>, and Gravecrawler<\/strong><\/a>, I\u2019ve been able to keep my slam cravings moderately maintained. Alas, the hunger grows perpetually. I needed MOAR, and it needed to be good. Enter New Zealand\u2019s verb-the-noun slam quartet Utilize the Remains<\/strong><\/strong> and their sophomore LP, Meaningless Existence. With a fully fleshed-out lineup as of 2023, can these Pacific rimmers sate my thirst for dummy unga-bunga death?<\/p>\n

The short answer is yes! Featuring members of War Saw<\/strong>, Abhor<\/strong>, and known slammers Organectomy<\/strong><\/a>, Utilize the Remains<\/strong><\/strong> slam and chug and gurgle their way relentlessly through 36 minutes of tightly wound, stomping material that fits neatly inside genre conventions. They do exactly 0 things to push the envelope or challenge expectations the same way artists like Wormhole<\/strong><\/a> or Devourment<\/strong><\/a> regularly endeavor, and yet their work satisfies the prompt with comprehensive ease and infallible competence. Moments of intelligence flash before me as numbers like \u201cDevouring Neuropathy\u201d and \u201cBiochemical Emptiness\u201d continually evolve into ballistic variants of its main theme. Nevertheless, consistency and adherence to the classic slam formula\u2014a formula with one ingredient: skull-bashing riffs\u2014take first priority at all times.<\/p>\n

Meaningless Existence by Utilize The Remains<\/a><\/p>\n

Meaningless Existence may not be the most innovative slam record, but it is great fun and sure to be a hit in any pit. Huge grooves that require an intimidating stride to traverse give top cuts \u201cBiochemical Existence,\u201d \u201cVicious Redemption,\u201d \u201cFlesh Ripped from Bone,\u201d \u201cSadistic Manipulation,\u201d and closer \u201cInto Eternal Oblivion\u201d a devastating swing and swagger liable to shatter bones and burst blood vessels en masse. Highly indicative of Organectomy<\/strong>\u2019s album arrangements, instrumental \u201cEncoded Within\u201d shines a spotlight on the instrumental team constructing these destructive payloads in fine fashion, and leads me directly into the raucous, double-bass-heavy \u201cVicious Redemption.\u201d Tightly arranged, Meaningless Existence boasts a level of compositional consistency that allows its best moments to shine without leaving the rest to flounder and stumble, but there\u2019s enough variety in pacing and patterns to keep things from getting boring before the end. For a genre with as limited a palette as slam is often provided, that feat is admirable.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, stronger examples of the genre have done more with the same restricted toolkit. Opening salvos \u201cSealed Fate\u201d and \u201cNecrotic Chambers of Decay\u201d don\u2019t leave lasting impressions to help hype me up during the first quarter, instead fading gradually out of memory as Meaningless Existence progresses. \u201cKeep Them All Docile\u201d similarly exhibits well in the moment, but leaves no mark in the wake of the two huge bangers that bookend its placement in the runtime. Even Meaningless Existence\u2019s strongest moments, like \u201cFlesh Ripped from Bone,\u201d leave some creative potential on the table. While there are clear opportunities to twist and bend riffs into novel shapes and take unorthodox paths to something exciting and uncommonly captivating, Utilize the Remains<\/strong><\/strong> instead tows the company line without much in the way of deviation. This adherence to slam\u2019s established blueprint affords Meaningless Existence a familiarity and a reliable fun factor that can\u2019t be denied. By that same coin, however, Utilize the Remains<\/strong><\/strong> rob their audience of a more fulfilling creative experience that those familiar with the band members\u2019 pedigrees might reasonably hope to hear.<\/p>\n

In the end, Meaningless Existence is a perfect summer album. Simple, dependable, muscular slamming death that offers no bells and no brain cells. It\u2019s dumb as rocks and is liable to rock the house at any venue with metric fucktons of stomping, hammering fun. It could\u2019ve been more interesting and adventurous without sullying slam\u2019s caveman reputation, of course\u2014and it would\u2019ve been easy for these musicians to write it that way, too. They didn\u2019t. While that\u2019s a far cry from a disappointment in this arena, I find myself fondly imagining small changes, minor alterations, and little twists that might make Meaningless Existence a more surprising release nonetheless. Still, it\u2019s hard to go wrong with something done well, and Utilize the Remains<\/strong><\/strong> cleared that bar with ease.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> Good
DR:<\/strong> 6 | Format Reviewed:<\/strong> PCM
Label:<\/strong> Self-Released
Websites:<\/strong> Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> August 18th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is summer, and summer is for MOAR SLAMS!!! 2026 hasn\u2019t seen the most plentiful harvest from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[24248,1136,273175,266386,7281,93497,18,117,273176,273177,19,17,273178,337,162525,273179,273180,1142,1143,15286,273181,273182,273183,273184,144659],"class_list":["post-645520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-24248","tag-3-0","tag-abhor","tag-aug26","tag-death-metal","tag-devourment","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-glassbone","tag-gravecrawler","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-meaningless-existence","tag-music","tag-new-zealand-metal","tag-onchocerciasis-esophagogastroduodenoscopy","tag-organectomy","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-self-released","tag-slam","tag-utilize-the-remains","tag-utter-scorn","tag-war-saw","tag-wormhole"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117122551291185228","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}