Amputation Spree- Terminal Velocity EP

Amputation Spree is Theodore Spencer Van Dyk's brutal death metal project. Since the beginning of the bands existence releases have been flowing out at rapid pace and always deliver in terms of consistency. When most people think of brutal death it is either a love or hate relationship. Amputation Spree have managed to find that middle ground in the fact that those who hate the genre can most likely enjoy this release. With the thirteen minute runtime there is plenty here to keep the listener entertained.

There are a few sections of experimentation spread throughout this short release. These moments certainly make for an interesting listening experience. The entire first track has an odd quality going for it. For the most part it is just your typical death metal track with a bludgeoning quality to it, but the entire song the volume fades in and out. It creates an extremely weird and disorienting effect. Though it does make for an interesting listen it may, later on down the line, jeopardize the replay value of that particular track.

 The guitar playing like with previous releases focuses on the groove for the most part. An occasional melody gets incorporated into the music. An example of this would be in "Sudden Monolithic Realization Of Chaos and Suffering" right before it goes into a great solo. Aside from a few moments that have outburst of speed the majority of the album has that slow, cranium crunching pace that forces you to headbang while listening. The bass is overwhelmingly heavy on Terminal Velocity. The bass definitely adds a tremendous amount of thickness to the overall sound of the EP and hits like a haymaker with every note.

It is obvious that since the first EP Addicted To Beheading Children dropped Theodore has matured a bit musically. Each track featured on this release manages to have a very epic sound but still maintain that odd brutality that made his past material memorable. Another aspect that has improved since the split and EP is the vocal performance. While the vocals may not be quite as guttural as they used to be at times there is a greater amount of variation. Also it seems since the last release the delivery of the growls has gotten much more powerful.

Overall Terminal Velocity is a big improvement over something that was already pretty damn good. If a full-length release ever gets dropped from Amputation Spree with tracks up to par with the ones heard here, well let's just say you would probably want to hide your children. Amputation Spree is slowly becoming the best free music money can buy. Fans of brutal death metal should give this one a look, and metalheads in general who can appreciate the more extreme styles will also find this worthy of a listen.