Formed in 2017 in Atlanta, Alluvial are a band of prodigious talent and unholy ambition. Following on from Sarcoma, the band’s stated aim is to go darker and heavier that what has come before, with Death Is But A Door the first chance to test their mettle (and their metal.
Hit play and you’ll quickly realise that Alluvial don’t fuck around. The ferocious death-groove churn of Bog Dweller sounds like Dying Fetus going head-to-head with Meshuggah, as the band mix Zach Dean’s dense polyrhythms with Wes Hauch’s sinister guitar work, all of which is overlaid by Kevin Muller’s uncompromising bark. It’s an impressively tumultuous opening to the EP that more than makes up for its brevity with unremitting brutality. Yet, as ferocious as this opening gambit is, it still leaves you unprepared for the savage horror of Fogbelt, which maintains the death elements, adding in a touch of industrial grind for good measure. The result is devastating – the soundtrack to a nightmare from which you can never wake – and it more than makes good on the band’s promise to take things a step or two darker with every release. That same industrial undercurrent remains as the band plough into Area Code, a churning monster anchored by Tim Walker’s bowel-threatening groove. With Kevin spitting out his vocals with rhythmic force, it’s a strangely catchy number, for all of the fire and fury the band deploy, and it’s easy to imagine this one tearing the moshpit to shreds, especially when Wes rips out a ferocious solo. The band wrap things up with the title track, a near-five-minute piece that manages to combine weighty riffs with a quite remarkable melody, which is all the more welcome when experienced in the context of the EP’s otherwise remorseless approach. Which is not to say Death Is But A Door sees the band going soft – it’s still a monstrous blast of death metal – but it adds a touch of dynamic that helps to keep things progressing across the run time. If this is a sign of things to come, then the next full-length effort will be something special indeed.
Offering just four tracks, Death Is But A Door showcases Alluvial’s myriad strengths, with each of the tracks aired here liable to become a live favourite. With ferocious performances and a strong grasp of the importance of dynamic, Death Is But A Door is just one more step on Alluvial’s way to death metal domination. 8.5/10
