Loudrage are a self-professed ‘groovy death metal’ band from Transylvania / Romania who formed in 2005. ‘Uglier than thou’ is the band’s digital-only EP, available via Bandcamp (pay what you want download) and, over its five tracks, the EP demonstrates the band’s potent strengths.
Opening with the primitive clatter of ‘Doomed’ the band set their stall at the more brutal end of Arch Enemy’s output (think ‘anthems of rebellion’) stripping away the more overt layers of melody but maintaining the powerful groove that drives the songs forward with such vicious power. Mixed by Adi OQ Neagoe & Jeffro, the sound is perfectly balanced between raw power and just enough precision to give the whole thing definition, whilst the vocals are a bowels-of-the-earth scraping roar that speaks of a love of Cannibal Corpse. It’s not all straightforward, however, and the band throw in a sonic curveball towards the conclusion of the song, introducing a subtle melody that suggests the band have bigger ambitions than just splitting heads with their ferocious riffs. A personal favourite, the swinging chug of ‘as I live’ is guaranteed to set the mosh-pit moving with its brutal grind and toxic vocals, whist the snatches of lyrics that emerge from the dark heart of the song are shot through with yellowing streaks of bile that foam and burn when they hit the ground. It’s neither subtle nor pretty, but it sure as hell will get heads banging. Previously available as a video (one of two tracks that the band have released on youtube), ‘Fear me’ is a sludge laden slab of Cannibal Corpse worship that juxtaposes a brutally turgid opening with a fast-paced chorus that scythes away at the listener with razor-sharp precision. You can check out the video below, but be warned this is not music for the faint of heart – this is toxic death metal designed to trample and burn all those who oppose it underfoot.
The second of the two tracks released as videos, ‘Suffo-Kate’ is a grandiose slab of pure death grind recalling Dying Fetus at their most extreme and with a vocal that sounds like a pig being tortured in a manner far too explicit to print here. It’s another highlight of the EP and a pointed reminder that Loudrage deal in the sinister, the ugly and the plain bloody brilliant and you can only imagine the effect of being subjected to such brutality in the mosh pit.
The final track is ‘intruders’ and it is every bit as blistering as you’d expect from the band, the vocals an aural shock that will leave you quaking even as the music pounds away at the foundations of your mind sounding for all the world like Soulfly covering Napalm Death. It is a suitably aggressive closing number for an EP that does not relent for even a second over its brief runtime.
Overall it’s hard to fault Loudrage. ‘Uglier than thou’ is a brilliantly brutal EP that ticks all the boxes with gritty, taut playing; unhinged, acid gargling vocals and just enough melodic hints to make sure that the songs sound suitably varied. If you want to check the band out there are two videos and an embedded player for you to grapple with but in the final analysis if you like your metal raw, bloody and enraged then Loudrage are for you.
