The Eating Cave – Ingurgitate
Release Date: 10th June 2022
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal
FFO: Archspire, The Faceless, Inferi, Origin, Obcura.
Review By: Rick Farley
Brutal technical death metal with loads of punishing grooves, angular frenzied rhythms, complicated structures and complex time signatures while remaining completely guttural and monstrously heavy with a focus on good songwriting; sign me the hell up. Lately, tech-death has fizzled out in terms of originality, becoming overly crowded and stale. Cram as many notes as possible into ridiculous time signatures and go a thousand miles an hour. I realise that’s a very rudiment take on the genre, but aside from its bigger names, I’m just not hearing much contrast these days in terms of quality of music. Thankfully, that ends now.
In a genre known solely for its excess, Virginia’s own The Eating Cave are unleashing a ruthless, yet creative, and musically complex piece of tech-death focused on astonishing musicianship and intelligent songwriting. The band consists of Thiago Campanhol on vocals, who I’m convinced is actually possessed. His snarling pig squeals, and throaty screams are beyond vile and gut churning. High-pitched black metal shrieks and disgusting gutturals that are so low and bellowing they sound like the earth is cracking open, leading right to the pits of hell. The guitar players, Evan Hope and Tyler Boylan are extremely skilled musicians that use nasty unorthodox riffs, and insane solo elements mixed amongst grotesque melodies that all blends into well-crafted chaos. The impressive bass which was tracked by Tyler is the perfect complement to the guitars, bruising with low end and just enough mastery to stand out on its own. As of now there is no official drummer, however they intend to use a fill in for touring purposes. Chris Basham, who’s listed as synths and engineering, rounds out the band. Production wise, the band did a fantastic job of keeping things crisp and nasty but with excellent clarity. The guitar tones are dirty but still very precise. Full rich bass tones and a good overall mix keeps it dense and weighty.
Ingurgitate comes off as a brutal death metal album that’s happens to be highly technical. Don’t get me wrong there’s some serious tech going on here, lightning fast noodly guitars, insane alternate picking, dramatic sweeps, and crazy drum patterns. Time signature changes that will contort your body in three different directions. A blistering pace of insanely complicated musicianship that your brain sometimes can’t even comprehend. Tons of swarming, go for the jugular riffs that sounds like controlled demolition.
What makes The Eating Cave a bit different is their knack for effortlessly transcending the genre with other elements of extreme metal and the focus on fluid songs. Disgustingly heavy deathcore breakdowns, and ferocious grinding slam riffs are always looking to snap spines more so than impress with hundreds of notes. Those insane flurry of note passages are here in droves, but they’re usually leading to abhorrent face smashing guitars or breakdown style grooves set to lay waste. The musicianship is jaw dropping, executing virtuoso like performances and sheer technical brilliance, but you’ll keep coming back for the savage beatdowns, guttural vocals and intensely menacing atmosphere. Additional music components creep into the mix that further enhances the battering ambience. Bits of symphonic black metal and slight traces of sombre dissonance manage to keep things fiendishly tempered and alive sounding.
Undoubtedly, The Eating Cave is headed straight to the top of the heap, proving that teach death can be exciting and vital again, without using overly polished production or sounding like separate standalone sections slapped together for the sake of technicality. Ingurgitate is pure obliteration from many aspects of extreme metal combined into one hyper focused assault on the senses. Do not miss this band. 
(4.5 / 5)
