DEMO/EP ROUNDUP - Grave Bathers and Innards

It's time to delve into our pile of demos/singles/mini-albums/EPs ...

Based out of a funeral home converted into its own band venue (appropriately named the Cadaver Club(!)), we have a two song EP from Grave Bathers entitled Feather Serpent. First up we have the title track that meanders forth in a slow lope, blubbering bass front and centre, before the tempo shifts upward and the band lets loose for a short, way-cool jam ... before revisiting the original riff at its conclusion. The Philadelphia-based unit follows that up with a similarly doomed "Death Hand", this time including an extended, jammy rhythmic conclusion. Overall, Grave Bathers can be placed in the space between doom rock and doom metal ... call it proto-doom metal, with a touch of acid-infected psychedelia added for good measure. The bass work here rules, by the way. Fun stuff. (7.5)

Up next we have Portugal's Innards with their three-track, sixteen-minute Back From The Grave, Straight In Your Face EP. Opener "Night of the Anthropophagous" proves to be an old-school death metal ditty, faithfully covering Death territory. The following "Enlightenment Through Hate" will likely grab the most attention though, featuring guest appearances from Kam Lee (Massacre) at the mic and Frank Blackfire (Sodom) come guitar solo time. Truth be told, all three tracks attack in the same restraint-be-damned mode, drums pummeling and guitars buzzing. After its sixteen minutes, you'll know that Innards has most definitely delivered the OSDM goods here. (7)