{"id":86697,"date":"2025-09-26T12:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T12:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86697\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T12:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T12:18:07","slug":"last-retch-abject-cruelty-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86697\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Retch – Abject Cruelty Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Despite the core ingredient being completely the same, not all steaks are created equal. Marbleization, marination, seasonings, sauces, garnishes, lobster tail, and the right type of whiskey to chase it down are all equally important considerations in preparation for the final product, despite the cynics\u2019 argument that you\u2019re dealing with the same slab of beef. So too with death metal. Hailing from Canada, Last Retch<\/strong> are our chophouse today, offering up their second LP Abject Cruelty to appease your palate for all things medium rare, and if you\u2019re one of those cynics who think death metal all tastes the same because of its ingredient base, you can get back to whatever soup-slinging hellhole you came from. Abject Cruelty is here to eradicate and destroy with extreme prejudice, and make sure you lick the plate completely clean by the time you\u2019re finished.<\/p>\n

As all good steaks should, Abject Cruelty sounds fatty and thick. Drummer Spencer Robson has his double bass rolls placed flawlessly in the mix, adding car-window rattling depth of sound to machine gun riffs (\u201cResinous Drip of Decay\u201d,) while guitarists John Russell and Derek Brzozowski ride a fat tone which straddles the line between HM-2 and the more filthy production of Gutless<\/strong>. Vocalist Finlay Blakelock has a vicious croak reminiscent of a more revitalized John McEntee (Incantation)<\/strong> in its depth. These well-worn ingredients come together in a total package of high-grade death, where the riff is king and the sauce is boss tone stands supreme, resulting in an engaging listen which flows from high bpm assaults to brief respites of mid-paced atmospherics. The release sounds surprisingly organic given its low DR, and its truncated runtime allows it to entertain before ear fatigue sets in.<\/p>\n

Abject Cruelty by Last Retch<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the meal on offer, what awaits is a generous offering of Bolt Thrower<\/strong> with garnishes via a smorgasbord of dalliances with other stylings. \u201cBeasley Meth Merchants\u201d rocks pit-igniting rapid chugs and simple but effective drum rhythms in the spirit of classic Vader<\/strong>, while \u201cResinous Drip of Decay\u201d flirts with Incantation<\/strong> atmosphere. Nods to bands as divergent as Carcass<\/strong> and Demilich<\/strong> (\u201cDisolved in Lye\u201d) transition into moments that recall the chuggiest thuggiest moments of Skinless<\/strong> (appropriate given the heavy amount of samples) while working solos which are used more as moody set-pieces than opportunities for fretboard heroics. Last Retch<\/strong> have concocted an album that calls to the leaders of old and does their best to fill the footsteps of such giants.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Naturally, such a tall order has its stumbling blocks, though there\u2019s hardly anything sabotaging the album as a whole. The samples do a good job breaking up the carnage, but some have obnoxious vocal filters, which makes them grate more than enhance the music, with \u201cDissecting the Leper\u201d being the worst offender. The strength of Abject Cruelty is more in its composition than the technicality of its performances. Title track \u201cAbject Cruelty\u201d sports one of my favorite riffs I\u2019ve heard in years as a centerpiece for the song, but the half-time verses can\u2019t quite keep up the menace in the delivery. This isn\u2019t to imply the band are poor in their instruments by any means, but they clearly have a vision for grand and epic death which is grazed more often than it\u2019s grasped. They have the mood and the individual riffs down to a science, but a push to challenge themselves a bit in the technicality will give the full product the shot in the arm it needs to be in contention for the modern-day death giants of the world.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the majority of Abject Cruelty is a good take on what I want out of the slightly crustier side of modern death metal. It\u2019s succinct, every song has at least one riff worthy of living room moshing, the production is fat, and the tone violent. Last Retch<\/strong> is a good band, and this album is a good album with some moments of genuine greatness. During my listens, I found myself many times thinking \u201cthis would probably sound fantastic in a live setting,\u201d and for music as cathartic and energetic as this, that is an important impression. If you\u2019re on the quest to eradicate the kindness in your life and have a good time doing it, there\u2019s plenty of cruelty to go around waiting for you here\u2026<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 3.0\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 5 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: 320 kbps mp3
Label<\/strong>: Time to Kill Records<\/a>
Website<\/strong>: Album Bandcamp<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: September 26th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite the core ingredient being completely the same, not all steaks are created equal. Marbleization, marination, seasonings, sauces,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[1135,1136,57124,31580,27663,47158,7281,57125,18,117,57126,19,42794,17,57127,337,1142,1143,31249,57128,57129,57130],"class_list":{"0":"post-86697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1135","9":"tag-3-0","10":"tag-abject-cruelty","11":"tag-bolt-thrower","12":"tag-canadian-metal","13":"tag-carcass","14":"tag-death-metal","15":"tag-demilich","16":"tag-eire","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-gutless","19":"tag-ie","20":"tag-incantation","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-last-retch","23":"tag-music","24":"tag-review","25":"tag-reviews","26":"tag-sep25","27":"tag-skinless","28":"tag-time-to-kill-records","29":"tag-vader"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86697","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=86697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}