Independent Spanish warmongers known as Warslaughter fire off their first full length release Autofagia, a dense, guttural, and disgusting album filled with twisted and demonic utterings from what ever dark depths these guys crawled out from. This is a very dense blackened death metal release, plenty of crude guitar riffs and a steady hard hitting drum beat. The speed isn’t where the album finds its energy, its the incredibly heavy tones and massive sound these guys produce is where they get it from.
Diving right into it, I have to mention just how repetitive this album truly sounds. Thanks to the very muddy and guttural sound the guitar tones have thanks to the production, kind of make the whole album, at least through the lens of a guitar player, sound very much alike. There isn’t much variation, and if there is its mostly covered up with the production. Its a doubled edge sword this style. On one hand, it helps really push the massive sound these guys have built. But on the other hand, it sadly just buries everything else under it and just muddies it all up. Really requires a good pair of headphones to really pick up on whats going on. The vocals and drumming on the other hand have an almost Proclamation or Teitanblood style to it. Though, unlike their peers, they are a bit more subdued and kind of low energy. Unlike those bands, though, they don’t have that same energy behind the guitars. The vocals and drums on the other hand, are almost identical to Proclamation. Especially the rather tinny sounding drums and very heavy kick drum.
With all that said, it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the album. I still found my self hypnotized to the sound. When pushing past all of the crud and dried blood, there are some guitar riffs that really just stick in your head. I’ve found the first track Cetro De Automasticación / Fecundación De Necrohomínidos and the fourth track Septicemia Por Eclosión De Pústulas / Necrosis Generalizada to have been the most memorable for me. There’s something very nihilistic with the feel of the overall album its self. That lack of energy I mentioned earlier, is another doubled edge blade here. On one hand, it can be rather boring if you’re not thrusted into it like other war metal acts, but instead slowly crushed by the dense sound of it all.
I was very torn with this album. I very much enjoyed my time listening to it and taking it all in, but I also do feel there’s a lot of improvement to be made here. They did progress from their demo release, which has very much the same vibe, but the album for sure cements the type of crushing sound they wanted to do. For a fan of more traditional war metal, you might not find this as enjoyable of a listen especially when compared to this band’s peers even from the same region. Clearly taking inspiration, but needs to find their footing still. On the other hand, give it a shot you might find your self enjoying it much more than I did.