Their name is Hungry Like Rakovitz and they've been around since 2008, although the initial idea started back in 2004. Since then, they have been touring, recording & rehearsing. They shared the stages with bands like Godflesh & Eyehategod and with good reason too. These guys are intense and heavy as fuck, blending elements from death metal, grindcore, black metal, sludge and hardcore into one massive aural punishment.
The album opens with and intro ('Under A Wolf Skin We Lurk'), followed by one of the slowest songs, and quite frankly also one of my favorites. 'Dissident' reminds me somewhat of doom icons Winter with its grinding sound and its raunchy atmosphere. Both elements remain throughout the whole album but here and there the tempo goes up, way up. 'Inevitable Return To Darkness (Obscuritate I)' comes up with the blast beats and the blackened screams.
'With Death In Our Hearts' seems to nudge towards old school death metal with a chaotic and strangling sound. 'Trophies, Not Prisoners' repeats that recipe, be it in a more industrial way. So, where's the sludge, you might ask. Well, it's everywhere in this thick, vicious sound, and especially in 'Wildweed' and 'Refusing Light'. In all, this is a tremendous slab of extreme metal, created solely to torture and eliminate your very soul. I guess that's a compliment.
​Serge