Cemetery Urn
Suffer the Fallen
Hell’s Headbangers Records
Released: 10/27/23
Version Reviewed: Cassette, Limited Edition, 1st Press
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A1 – Damnation is in the Blood
A2 – Kill at a Distance
A3 – Savage Torment
A4 – Embers of the Burning Dead
B1 – Room of Depravity
B2 – Suffer the Fallen
B3 – Compulsive Degradation
B4 – It Will End in Death
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It is grossly infrequent that something this malign and devastating show itself in the modern death metal scene. This level of pure storming chaos has not been seen since the days of the mid-1990’s when the chaos of vintage Angelcorpse, Krisiun, and Immolation was running rampant. Cemetery Urn’s newest offering, Suffer the Fallen, is a violent and visceral ride that is certainly an immediate contender for album of the year across the metal spectrum and one of the best death metal offerings of the year, period.
First things first, the performance laid down by drummer Brandon Gawith throughout Suffer the Fallen can be described as nothing short of pure raw power. From the lightning quick blastbeats to the impossibly fast double-bass rolls, Gawith positions himself amongst the elite drummers of the scene.
There are no fluff pieces on Suffer the Fallen, no intros, no outros, no instrumentals, no deliberate slowdowns or detours. This is devastation in methodical order.
Beginning with ‘Damnation is in the Blood’ the stage is being set for the rest of the album. Primitive sonic information is immediately dumped onto the listener. Both guitars and bass being handled by Andrew Gillon are reminiscent of Cianide pushed to some absurd extreme. Riffs form, merge, slam together, and a lead briefly riffs rips through the surface before being crushed under Brandon Gawith’s bulldozer percussion assault and Chris Volcano’s raspy guttural vocals.
‘Kill at a Distance’ is no different. The heaviness is absurd, there are moments of groove added to the carnage, albeit, very brief, like spindly limbs jutting off some abomination. Those limbs are quickly snapped off and buried under rotating segments of double-bass, sharp leads, and mincing blastbeats.
‘Savage Torment’ starts off with a more mid-tempo double-bass chugging approach accented with a single-note tremolo-picked melody riff. The riff and drum rhythm then evolve into more of a thrashing structure before hitting a half-time segment, the sort of time-change that causes crowds to split and merge into violent masses.
‘Embers of the Dead’ features some of Brandon Gawith’s best work, trading between machine-gun blastbeats and impossibly fast double-bass footwork before morphing into a trashy breakdown that should break every neck that bears witness. A slower passage afterwards sees multiple guitar melodies stacking with each other to create a haunting nightmare crush of riffcraft slamming down on the listener for a brief moment before subsiding and shifting back into the main riff.
This is just Side A. This is just Side A.
Side B offers no respite.
‘Room of Depravity’ offers the most variation in terms of riff structuring on all of Suffer the Fallen, with melodies and leads flowing like arterial blood, all while every possible percussive trick is being thrown at the listener.
The title track opens with a percussive barrage and a long-form single-note tremolo-picked riff that spans several bars. Double melodies fight against one another over top machine-gun drumming before another thrash metal style segment breaks out.
‘Compulsive Degradation’ slightly slows things down and works some more groove elements into the main structure in comparison to the other tracks on Suffer the Fallen.
The album is closed out by the appropriately titled ‘It will end in Death,’ one last slamming beast of sonic primitive information that pulverizes the listener with solos and repeated rhythmic changes.
When the tape ends, all that’s left are two ringing ears.
This is what death metal should be. No wimp shit. No gimmicks. Purity. Violence.
Label: Hell’s Headbangers Records
Band: Cemetery Urn
-AJK
apanthropy 
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