Blink and you'll miss this release either due to it's brevity or the logo font which, at a glance, looks almost identical to that of Sweden's Entombed. Perhaps in reverence to the passing of Entombed frontman Lars-Göran Petrov earlier this year or as an homage to the "Entombed sound." Entombed were known for their heavy, "buzzsaw" guitar tone. A tone that Belgium newcomers, Barren, have used as the foundation for their three song demo promoted under the moniker of "chainsaw grind." Referring to their use of the legendary Boss Heavy Metal HM-2 distortion pedal and it's classic "buzzsaw/chainsaw" sound. A point of pride that the band is more than happy to publicize. It's a credit to the band's refined taste as well as a certain amount of good old fashion gear worship. It's fun to see the collector culture and tech biases behind the scenes. Pedal fetishism aside, clearly Barren has spent the time refining their sound because this demo rips.
This "chainsaw grind' sound seems to be due in large part to the contributions of guitarist Matias Dupont, formerly of Aborted and Agathocles fame. Two major bands in the genre, so we can trust that he knows what he's doing. His guitar tone is on point in respects to that Left Hand Path
sound. Except that Barren modernizes Entombed's signature low-ended guitar tone and in return gives us a dense and cavernous roar that can start and stop on a dime. There's no thin sounding chords or time wasted on irritating guitar solos. Just a whirlwind of distortion. It's simple yet highly effective and has a nice well rounded sound especially when mixed with bassist Tom Swinnen's tension wire-esque bass lines.
Matias and Tom are joined by drummer Llano Bergman and dual vocalists Cliff Feyen and Jimmy Schippers. All three coming from technical deathcore band, Everyone Dies Alone. Both Cliff and Jimmy share vocal duties in a tandem style, à la Extreme Noise Terror. They offer up the standard grindcore high/low contrast. The former having what I like to call "Crudos" vocals; with the latter sounding more along the lines of Napalm Death's Barney Greenway, but with the slightest tickle of a goregrind gurgle.
It's not only Matias' gear specifics, but also his hands-on in the studio that I think contributes to the tonality of this demo. Recording his own as well as his bandmate's guitar, bass and vocal performances and taking part in producing alongside engineer Lander Cluyse. Lander also handled mixing and mastering over at Belgium's Hearse Studios. Barren's sound was actually a bit surprising to me given the background of several members' work in Everyone Dies Alone. A band that I mentioned before was more deathcore/slam metal in its style. Combine this with Matias' tenure with Aborted and Tom's assorted death metal past, I was expecting a techy, overly polished, triggered sort of deathgrind. Thankfully I found myself with a very natural and fluid sounding style of grindcore. A mixture of old school and new school that has an air of darkness.
Generally speaking, all the songs we've been given thus far are pummeling and speedy: blast beats, D-beats, stop/starts, aggressive riffs, etc. All three songs feature a heavy, plodding breakdown or outro that are testaments to the band's beatdown and slam metal roots. These slower passages don't derail the songs, but add some nice depth and diversity to them while keeping the momentum intact. Each song runs just under the two minute mark making them beefy, but not bloated. The track "Rain" follows the aforementioned standards except for its introduction of a melodic ending that combines melancholy guitar work with the brutishness of the band's vocal delivery and the vigorous drum work.
Barren's "demo" is probably one the best sounding demo I've ever heard. With this level of musicianship and production, the addition of two or three more tracks could have easily made this an EP ready for the pressing plant. I'm very eager to hear what else Barren has to offer in the way of future releases. As of this review the band is currently working on recording more material and should have another release out by the Summer. If they can keep up with the quality of songwriting that they've established here it's safe to say that whatever EP or full-length comes along will be mandatory listening. I'm a fan.
FFO: Napalm Death, Catheter, Wormrot, Phobia
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