RINGWORM "Death Becomes My Voice"

RINGWORM

“Death Becomes My Voice”

If anger has a voice, it’s got to be Human Furnace, the asbestos-lunged frontman of Cleveland bruisers RINGWORM. This guy packs an ungodly amount of rage into his ripped throat singing. So much, in fact, that it kind of beats on the brain and creates a kind of monotone. It’s a blessing and a curse.

The last RINGWORM effort “Snake Church” was a devastating blast of angry hardcore metal. It would be a very hard album to follow up on and indeed, “Death Becomes My Voice” is just not as good. I don’t think there’s enough variation between songs in the early part of the album to be really effective...the title track,  “Carnivores”, “Do Not Resuscitate” all come across as pretty much the same song. A song that’s angrier than a rattler that’s been stepped on, to be sure, but not a lot of range.

But the latter half of the album shows some more thought and RINGWORM demonstrates that they can do the job in different ways. “Dead To Me” has more of a punky type hardcore sound and is better because of it.  “Dying By Design” and “Separate Realities” use riffs that are more memorable and sometimes not quite as fast to deliver their beating. The piece de resistance is last track “Final Division”, a thrashing blast of hardcore rage that equals what was done on “Snake Church”.

If it’s angry, brutal music sung by a maniac that you seek, RINGWORM is your band. Start with “Snake Church” and then give “Death Becomes My Voice” a try.

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