Encephalopathy - Promo EP 2011 [EP] (2011, Self-released)

It seems like everybody and their grandmothers play in a slam band these days. Obviously this leads to a very large quantity of immensely mediocre bands, but every so often you stumble upon a shining gem... Encephalopathy is one such gem. Their tendency towards devastatingly heavy and crushing slam riffs combined with the inhuman pus-dripping vocal efforts of band frontman Matze makes for some effin' great slamming brutal death metal.

With chugs-a-plenty Encephalopathy is like an unstoppable train of low- and mid-tempoed brutal death metal. But as with any train it's just railroaded in one direction. The German three-man abomination against nature has very little variety on their three track demo, and while the few gore-soaked tracks are like little bits of chocolaty goodness they've limited themselves to a small niche of death metal by doing little more than the mandatory in regards of guitars, drumming and vocals.

It's not fair to say that they're completely unvaried. They don't fall in every stereotypical pit of slam, like ultra-slow breakdowns with below guttural growls, and every so often they sneak in a little blast beat or two. When listening to this demo EP you won't get bored and while Encephalopathy never reach lightspeed their sense of flow is remarkably good. Their compositions are truly a worthwhile listen. Only thing is that with the lack of speed also comes a certain lack of intensity which means most of their material sort of lacks a climax.
The lack of variety means I can only give them 7/10 guitars, but I will definitely be on the lookout for new material.

Tracklist:
1. Fetus Throatfuck
2. Cut Her Lips Off
3. The Sad Story About a Rotten Head in my Fridge

ENCEPHALOPATHY official site
Download and listen for yourself right HERE