BILE OF MAN - Dystopian Order: The Age of Detritus [Review]

Genre: Death Metal

Label: Self Released

Released: March, 2011

Reviewer: Karim Tarek

A Brutal Death Metal band from Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, Bile Of Man are known as one of the heaviest and most brutal bands around their homeland. They officially started off in 2007. After a few member shifts and changes, they’re now composed of Riaan on drums, Bennie and Nicolas on guitar duties, Rehan on vocals, and Kyle on bass.

Unlike most bands, they started off by playing live shows, and they were lucky enough to play with the Death Metal savants, Carcass, on their first year performing live. An experience every band and musician out there would likely long to.

The band started recording their debut EP entitled: “Dystopian Order: The Age of Detritus” in mid 2010. It just came out a couple of days ago and I’ve been listening to it since then. I’ve got to tell that “Dystopian Order: The Age of Detritus” is one hell of a debut; it showcases a lot of potential and skillfulness from a really promising band.

The EP came way too heavy and solid, exploiting elements of pure Death Metal and incorporating them with Bile Of Man’s consummate touch of technicality, brutality, and groove. Surprisingly, some moments on the record came strikingly melodic; “Feast On The Wicked” can be a perfect exemplar on that, having some really catchy melodic riffs blended with some very fast drumming and an outstanding vocal output. Although their music can get so complicated at some points, the band retains a remarkable sense of congruity and concordance, having all elements of the music in accord with one another; the vocal tunes and drumming speed are firmly entwined with all guitar and bass work.

What’s also worth attention on “Dystopian Order: The Age of Detritus” is the fact that the music is far away from being stagnant or monotone -and yes, some Death Metal can get repetitive and monotone- but what Bile Of Man actually do is keep you entertained on every single moment by adopting a slick sense of variation on the music. You can get all what you need of blast beats, solos, speed, groove, brutal breakthroughs, and so many other tasty things. Even the vocals, they are so various in styles; sometimes it’s the very deep, guttural growls, and some other times, it’s the high-pitched one, also the harshness level changes on a very skillful basis, and there are even some parts having dual vocals that, along with the blast beats, could shudder your whole body. I can’t ask for more, actually. After listening to this record, I could simply feel that I’m satiated in terms of Death Metal.

So, what I’m trying to communicate here is that Bile Of Man’s debut EP, “Dystopian Order: The Age of Detritus”, is an interesting solid piece of Death Metal, that will never fail to keep you entertained all along due to it pertaining a lot of variation and slick changes in time signatures that make it musically diverse, yet maintaining it’s coherence and consistence. So here you go - stop complaining about the lack of “good” new-comers that are worth support, and go support Bile Of Man by all means, as this EP foreshadows a bright musical future for them.

Highlights: Feast On The Wicked, Tortured Till Death.

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