Review: Troglodyte ‘The Hierarchical Ecological Succession: Welcome To The Food Chain’
Death metal is one of those genres that doesn’t seem to change much, and as fans of it, we don’t really mind either. Most of us want guttural vocals with fast, brutal riffs, a ton of double bass and blast beat drumming, and intensely intricate bass guitar playing; there are obviously differences between bands, but the root formula remains mostly the same.
With all that in mind, I’d like to talk about today’s death metal purveyors, Troglodyte, and their new album, The Hierarchical Ecological Succession: Welcome to the Food Chain, that landed March 5th. The band calls themselves ‘bigfoot metal’, writing their lyrics about the elusive beast. This makes Troglodyte even more interesting for me, as I love the Bigfoot stories I’ve heard on the internet; their music being incredible doesn’t hurt either.
Troglodyte brings us into the album with the pulverizing track called What’s Eating You? and it’s immediately devastating in every way. The tempo is lightning quick, and the musicianship it takes to play it is mind-blowing. There is also a heavy groove in the verses that really brings the song to life!
My favorite track is 5th in the running order and is called Dyatlov. This one grabbed me with its slower tempo, which increases as time goes by, and as the riffs get heavier. I think I like it so much because it creates a nice sense of dynamics, and perfectly shows that they know how to do more than just being fast. I’m also of the opinion that this song has the best vocal performances on the record.
This is one heavy piece of music, and has a Nathan Explosion meets Chris Barnes vocal tone…
Another standout is the first track I ever heard from this band, Meat Your Maker. This is one heavy piece of music, and has a Nathan Explosion meets Chris Barnes vocal tone; not recent era Chris Barnes though, we’re talking Tomb of the Mutilated era Barnes. The music for Meat Your Maker is great too. There’s enough variation between tempo, style, and execution that it’s interesting, which is something that Troglodyte does throughout the entire album.
The music on the record has a thrash meets death metal sound reminding me of the first two Cannibal Corpse albums, and also added in is a bit of a Dethklok sound. I’m a big fan of the bands that incorporate thrash into their death metal, making me really love the music on The Hierarchical Ecological Succession: Welcome to the Food Chain by default.
I highly suggest that you go give Troglodyte a listen, this album is up on Bandcamp, and their earlier albums are all Name Your Price as well. Enjoy!!
Label: Blood Blast Distribution
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Tom Hanno
