To compare a young band to prestigious precursors of the genre is something pretty different than just mention some influences... OUTER HEAVEN is an outstanding new Death Metal band from Douglassville (Pennsylvania - USA) and if I cite BOLT THROWER, presently this is not just as a major influence but simply to place this quatuor at the early level of the UK legends and more precisely as a missing link between "In Battle there is no Law" and "Realm of Chaos" !!! No less, indeed...
Take the grinding crudeness of the legendary 1st album and add the crushing heaviness of their ultimate sophomore effort, definitely giving a prominent European vibe of the very late 80's/Early 90's in here, perpetuated by a bunch of Finnish bands... and you've got here an amazing demo, one of the best I've listened to in a long while !!!
And this is not just musically, cause Austin Haines vocals are also very close those of Karl Willets, something he didn't do on purpose obviously as this kind of voice is pretty unique ; but OUTER HEAVEN is no copycat of anyone, maybe they could if their songs were longer and filled invariably with typical shredding chainsaw guitars and/or commanding heaviness... one could request a bit longer songs though, just the 1st song clocks at 4 minutes, the others are under 02:40 ! This is authentically raw and blasting heavily, yet that doesn't sound deliberately old-school like.
Obviously this is dark, extremely heavy and grinding but not the putrid kind of stuff you know, more of the bombastic HC/crust power, in any cases I think that doesn't sound particularly evil and that obscure as their logo may suggest !
While the 5 first songs are very raw and unrestrained with well spoted headbanging mid-paced moments ("Eden Burns", "Death Grip", "Vessel Empty"), both last songs shift on different moods, "Towards the Sun" eyes on stonerish southern grooves which in this context could remind Entombed and finally "Chained" is a doomier song with a more menacing and modern (not pejorative at all !) tone...
I'll carefully follow what those guys will do next, I'm convinced that some good Death Metal label with sense will quickly give them a chance. Check out this name your price download, this demo is simply a MONSTER !
https://www.facebook.com/OuterHeavenPA
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