Artist: Dripping Decay
Country: USA
Label: Satanik Royalty Records / Old Shadows Records
Formats: LP / Cassette / CD
Year: 2023
Those who are lurking deep enough in the Death Metal scene might already picked up the name of this relatively new USA-based purveyors of the old dirt Dripping Decay. Their 2021-released ‘Watching You Rot’-demo has seen several reissues on all three most common physical formats, so judging by the rave response to this demo, for many, the moment the band returned was one to look forward to. That moment came last summer in the form of their first full-length album ‘Festering Grotesqueries’.
The album, this time styled in a colourful cover, does not take the band into new waters; on the contrary, despite this being only the debut, the band sounds like a well-oiled machine benefiting from several years of experience. Although the band was formed in 2019, this is still partly true, as for the band members Dripping Decay is not their first band and the individual musicians have previously gained experience in a host of other bands. Still, ‘Festering Grotesqueries’ sounds impressively solid.
Part of that observation may also have to do with the fact that Dripping Decay’s musical formula sounds more than familiar. It’s not exactly new or original to grind Autopsy and early Death up a bit with Repulsion and a touch of Terrorizer and then stuff it into a Necrophagia frame. However, with the quality of the individual musicians this tried and tested way of worshipping the magic sound of yesteryear comes out more than fine. The galloping drums, the thundering riffs and the great shouting vocals gives you more than a window to the glory years of the aforementioned genre giants. Doing so, ‘Festering Grotesqueries’ might sound closest to a new Matt Harvey-product, in which he combines his experience from Gruesome, Exhumed and Repulsion into something that is just straight and downright tasty.
