Virgin Reaper (Self Released)

 “Virgin Reaper” is the first release of Raypissed & Co. after changing its name from Vintage Flesh to Inverticrux, if you ever had the chance of listening to Vintage Flesh, you will certainly remember the sick and bizarre form of Black Metal this guys used to play… well, Inverticrux continues in a certain way with this strange and grim proposal, but this time the band has taken its sound to a new level of eclecticism, featuring an even wider range of influences than before. “Virgin Reaper” consists in ten tracks of demented Horror Metal; it’s pretty hard to label this band within a single defined style, the sound of Inverticrux is an extreme and psychopathic blend of Black, Thrash, Death, Doom, and Heavy Metal with Punk and Horror Rock elements thrown in, all these surrounded by a really nightmarish aura of brutality. The thrashing guitars in conjunction with a simple but punishing drumming set the overall dirty feeling of this album, there’re seems to be a lot more of old-school Death Metal influences at this work, even reminding me a little of the sound of Nunslaughter at some passages... Once again the weird vocal style of Raypissed is the undisputable protagonist of this theatrical and macabre piece, his ripping shrieks combined with his characteristic high pitched falsettos and clean chants, complemented and mixed with different effects result in the most remarkable element of the entire record. “Virgin Reaper” also features a song from Vintage Flesh last album; “To Serve The Dark Design” is an obscure reminder of the band’s blackened origins and a nice sample for those who missed the last album of Inverticrux previous incarnation, with this track inserted in the middle of the album is not hard to distinguish the similitudes and subtle differences between the band’s past and present sound, much easier than if it were included as a bonus track… Once again Raypissed & Co have created a sick and dark piece of Metal; “Virgin Reaper” is a bizarrely good album that will not disappoint those who enjoyed the sound of Vintage Flesh and will easily gain the attention of those into the old-school sounding Metal, call it Death, Proto-Black, Thrash or whatever you like… this is an obscure and original album that deserves attention. (AP)