Written By Kevin McSweeney
British thrashers Inhuman Nature have returned with their sophomore effort, Greater Than Death, released via Church Road records on the 25th of April. It’s an album that pays homage to the founding fathers of their chosen genre from the Bay Area to Berlin and beyond, whilst retaining enough of a raw, visceral urgency to avoid becoming a pastiche thereof.
From the Shadows provides an ominous introduction to the album, with deep, sonorous rumbling bass notes seemingly heralding the opening of the gates of Mordor. What malevolence could be about to come forth? The sense of foreboding generated is similar to the opening of Sepultura’s 1991 album Arise, and just like that classic of the genre, the eeriness gives way to an explosion of fury, this time in the form of Dawn of Inhuman Man, which races out of the traps in a flurry of deep, thudding snares, machine gun palm mutes and Obituary-style blood-curdling howls. And this sets the template for much of the rest of the album: huge riffs, organic drums and demonic howls and growls aplenty.
The pace drops but only slightly on Possessed to Die, with its exquisite harmonised intro riffs. The intensity, however, does not diminish at all. I don’t mean to keep referencing Sepultura, but I can’t help but be reminded of Dead Embryonic Cells by the mid-paced chug towards the end. (These constant references to the bastions of Brazilian metal say more about me than anything else. Arise was my first foray into music that was heavier than Black Album-era Metallica.)
Servants of Annihilation kicks off with the fleeting sound of a guitar imitating a racing car going through its gears, as on Mötley Crüe’s Kickstart my Heart, before launching again into blistering thrash. The guitar solo takes on an almost Middle-Eastern sound, before bringing us, by way of hardcore-style gang backing vocals, to a juddering end. Fortress of Delusionis a somewhat longer track, involving a slow, eerily atmospheric build up, à la Seasons in the Abyss, before a John Tardy-style scream rings out over music that is far from tardy, and every bit as intense as anything else on this album.
A pounding, tribal drum beat starts off Line in the Sand II – don’t mention you-know-who again, Kevin! – which turns to sixteenth notes on the ride cymbal and a mid-paced chug that is especially conducive to headbanging. This gives way again to fast thrash. Yes, there’s a pattern here, but it’s one that is adhered to especially well. The title track begins with another lovely tom-tom and chug combo before bringing the band into crossover territory with a riff that could almost be Agnostic Front during their more metal-adjacent era. The gang-style vocals augment it perfectly, and the lead guitar seems to emulate a siren or alarm much more than the flashy histrionics heard from Kirk Hammett or Marty Friedman back in the day.
Mad Man’s Cage is perhaps the song that is most reminiscent of Slayer on the album. It would not be out of place on South of Heaven, with little flourishes in the riffs that bring to mind King and Hanneman in their delivery. There’s also a spoken word element to the vocal performance, which is more menacing in its execution than much of the howling and growling. Also, I love the way all other instruments are phased out to allow the drums alone to bring the track to a close, like a much scarier version of A Design for Life by the Manic Street Preachers.
The Maze of Eternity is a brief and unsettling instrumental – all sinister synths and ominous arpeggios accompanied by lead guitar like a howling beast in the night. It serves as a discomfiting interlude before the final push in the form of Dead and Buried, where another one of those chilling screams leads us into frenetic thrash, with the hardcore-style gang vocals emerging once again in the chorus. It’s a strong closer for an album of uncompromising old-school brutality, with a rawness to its production that gives it a great sense of authenticity. It’s almost as if it’s been exhumed from the vaults, having been denied a release for several decades, only to sound every bit as vital as if it had been released in the heyday of thrash metal. Oh, and while I’m not hugely enamoured with the cover art, I do love the fact that it says “thrash” on the bin instead of “trash”. It’s a nice touch that adds a bit of levity to what is otherwise a gory and distressing image.
So, Greater than Death? Well, that’s a bold claim. Chuck Schuldiner and the boys were a serious outfit after all, but it is very good, and if you’re a fan of this particular subgenre, it’ll tick all your boxes. Ultimately, there’s not much in the way of deviation from the blueprint here, no experimentation for experimentation’s sake, no modern spin on things. It’s just shy of 37 minute’s worth of faithfully-rendered vintage thrash metal just like the legends used to make, only with vocals more akin to death metal, and again I find myself having to fight the urge to make another comparison to the frequently mentioned Brazilian legends.
All in all, it’s a strong addition to this renaissance of the first real subgenre of extreme metal, which, happily, shows no sign of abating, and along with such contemporaries as Tortured Demon, Psykosis and the irrepressible Gama Bomb, they form an exciting part of the burgeoning scene in the UK and Ireland. Speaking of which, you can catch Inhuman Nature touring the UK throughout May. We award Greater than Death four out of five devil horns, wish them luck with the album and tour, and heartily recommend that you check out both if you can.
This album gets 4 out of 5 metal horns
Greater than Death by Inhuman Nature is available to buy at www.churchroadrecords.com or to stream via Spotify or YouTube Music.
Tracklisting:
1. From the Shadows (01:38)
2. Dawn of Inhuman Man (02:54)
3. Possessed to Die (03:53)
4. Servants of Annihilation (03:17)
5. Fortress of Delusion (05:58)
6. Lines in the Sand II (03:54)
7. Greater Than Death (04:50)
8. Mad Man’s Cage (05:05)
9. The Maze of Eternity (01:48)
10. Dead and Buried (03:36)
Total:(36:53)
Inhuman Nature lineup:
Simon Grubb – Drums
Mack Stray – Guitars
Chris Barling – Vocals
Ben Taylor – Guitars, Synth
Daragh Markham – Bass, Vocals (backing), Synths
UK tour dates:
London: Downstairs at the Dome02.05.
Manchester: Star and Garter 03.05
Birmingham: The Flapper 04.05.
Norwich: Waterfront 15.05.
Southend: The Alex 16.05.
Bristol: Rough Trade 17.05.
Brighton: Dust 18.05.
Leeds: Boom22.05.
Glasgow: Garage Attic 23.05.
Newcastle: The Lubber Fiend 24.05
Inhuman Nature Online:
