Argentina is a rather cosy place compared to Colombia or Venezuela, violence-wise. Still, from there comes some sick death metal. The death metal scene in this South American country started in late 1980s.

One-man hack 'n' slash unit Bokrug started in 2003, and have to this date released 5 full-length albums and loads of demo recordings. Here we are dissecting the debut album 'Ancient Horrors and Bloody Visions'. The title gives an overview about the lyrical topics of the album, generally. Sadly, none of them are printed. And it's nigh on impossible to understand Alejandro Nawel's very low, guttural growling. The voice is highly reverbed, so it's more like a demon prattling via a dimensional gate. A bit similar to Adramelech's 'Psychostasia' (1996) and Avulsed's 'Stabwound Orgasm' (1999). They are a bit crispier on latter tracks, which are earlier recordings.

This album is a bit of a patchwork. Obligatory horror music overture opens the platter, and then we get five songs recorded in 2007. Then another 2007 recording, Death cover 'Denial of Life', which was made for Argentinian Death tribute, 'Mordiendo el Dolor - Homenaje Argentino a Death'; this is a visceral and fine cover of the classic song. Majority of the album consists of stuff recorded in 2005: Songs 8-18 and bonus tracks from 'Promo 2005' at the end. Another cover, Carcass's 'Pyosified...' appears, and is a cool bastardization of the original.

Bokrug mainly play nasty, old school death metal, with touch of grindcore. The vibes vary between gory and crazy, insane. Mortician, Carcass, countrymen Vibrion and Death (all with adjective "old") come to my mind while getting bashed in the head by this Argentinian devil. Primitive, vicious open-string riffing gets from mid-paced to fast, and more or less familiar riffs are on offer. There's some wicked leads too, but not in every song. No time for finesse... The drums often get blasting. Slower parts are utilized to break it, more or less effectively. There are also some longer periods with slower tempos, giving a breather for a listener. It's nothing too simplistic, the songwriting, as quite a lot can happen in a 1½-minute long song. Even some of the older ones are quite diverse.

2007 recordings have the best, most balanced production. The guitar has a bassy yet ripping tone. It is the loudest element together with the echoing drum machine. The programming is okay, but the samples are a tad sharp; the kick drums actually sound triggered! The clanking bass is there, but gets somewhat buried. The older songs from tracks 8 to 18 are from 2005, with lesser ballsy sound: Now the drums are buried under hellishly buzzing guitar and bass, which sound like one. So, some of the bass frequencies are missing, though. And not as stuffed as Mortician's turkeys! It's all alright for "bedroom recordings", what I believe them to be, believe me. Even the demo recordings.

This deathgrind fucking slays if you want to get slain. Four more full-length albums, among other releases, are already out from this Argentinian sicko, and are on my list. "When there's no more room in Hell... The dead metalheads will walk the Earth!"

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/31/2018 12:26