Basement Torture Killings – The First Cumming (Self-released, Summer 2008)

 
London-based deathgrind/goregrind band Basement Torture Killings are also sometimes referred to by the acronym BTK — not coincidentally, the same initials used by serial killer Dennis Rader (in which case the letters stood for “Bind, Torture, Kill”). With this sort of pedigree, and with song titles such as “Drill Bit Erotica,” “Cut, Drained and Disposed,” and “Necrophiled and Cannibalised,” your first reaction might be — as mine was — to expect them to be one of those super-extreme-brutal-death-wacko bands. You know, where the whole thing sounds so muddled and the guitars and bass are both equalized so low that you can’t distinguish between them? And usually the vocals sound more like a handful of crickets tossed into a bunch of stomach acid inside a blender set to “puree”? I don’t know how people listen to that sort of thing, to be honest, and if you’re with me on that, then you’re in for a pleasant surprise just as I was when I first heard BTK’s music.
 

 
Formed in 2007, by co-guitarists Tarquin and Bertrand (who also handle vocal duties), bassist Professor Kennith, and drummer The Fourth Killer, Basement Torture Killings are currently signed to the Arcane Productions label, through whom they released their full-length album The Second Cumming in 2011. However, this was preceded by the fourteen-minute, six-track EP The First Cumming, which they self-released in 2008.

This has been out of print for a while, but the guys recently announced to their Facebook fans that once they reached 1,000 “likes” they’d make the EP available to download for free. Well, a couple of days ago they hit that target number, and early yesterday morning (well, that’s when I found it – in the England time zone it might have been last night or next month or something like that) they revealed the download instructions.

So I’ve already told you what they don’t sound like, but you’re probably wondering what to expect. Well, I hear a lot of Cannibal Corpse influence, in that gory style of extreme death metal; also nods to some of the classic goregrind bands like Carcass (the older stuff, anyhow) and Exhumed — with the obligatory sound effects of screaming and power tools and all that fun stuff. Actually, the main comparison that comes to my mind is Gorerotted (and their spin-off bands); mostly it’s the vocals that make me think that, I think.

Anyway, that’s enough babbling for this morning, go grab yourself some free music! Once again, you can find the download link here.

 
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Basement Torture Killings: Facebook, Myspace
Arcane Productions: website, Facebook, Webstore (with links for UK readers to buy The Second Cumming full-length; American readers might prefer to check out Amazon.com: CD version or MP3 Version)
Update: I’ve just learned that Basement Torture Killings also have their own webshop, where you can pick up some great t-shirts, in addition to the full-length on CD! Check it out here.