Underking – Amongst The Dead

Now this takes some balls! When you form a band in November 2019 with two members. One on vocals, the other doing all of the instrumentation and you release two debut albums on the same day, April 3rd 2020. This is a review of one of them Amongst The Dead, the heaviest of the two from Underking.

Album opener ‘Exordium’ is a majestic call to arms instrumental followed by the intense buzzsaw riffing of ‘Nothing But Bone’ that had me hooked from the off, backed by a clean/bellowed vocal rant. As if this was not mad enough a brief guitar solo heads off into a claustrophobic grind. ‘Deadman’ is the first of two songs featuring Harvey Magher from Rainless on guitar and he delivers some Morbid Angel like overload to a grueling grind. It’s simply breathtaking as a pit opening thrash piece sees the song end on a bilious rant. ‘The Way Of Man’ is all wave upon wave of headbanging inducing riffs that rage and slash over an unhinged vocal. Pounding dynamics drive the insanity along to a frantic blast beat driven meltdown.

A dyed in the wool NWOBHM style riff opens up ‘Lowly Dog’ but is soon blasted away by kick drum bombast and an Evil Dead like tirade is backed by a crystal clear guitar solo. ‘Lost Souls’, the second track to feature Harvey is my standout. It has a ‘Dead Skin Mask’ like main riff backed by a hypnotic steady snare and kick drum pummel. A broken glass gargled vocal is matched for madness by screams from the very depths of hell as a guitar solo cuts through like barbed wire. Final track ‘Gravedigger’ arrives way too soon. It’s so twisted it should be in a straitjacket as it writhes and crawls on some crushing death metal soundscapes. Clean and guttural vocals combine perfectly like conjoined twins. A laid back midsection is the calm before the storm hell breaking loose guitar heavy outro of shimmering solos and wrecking ball strength riffs as a tolling bell is a fitting end to this aftershock.

Amongst The Dead album track listing :-

Exordium.

Nothing But Bone.

Deadman. (feat Harvey Magher).

The Way Of Man.

Lowly Dog.

Lost Souls (feat Harvey Magher).

Gravedigger.