Nausea Skeleton Abyss is the latest release from the Chinese-based thrash/death metal band DUGU. When I listen to this release, I hear a lot of passion and big sprinkling anger thrown in, but the performance is mostly uneven. The album is a collection of their three cassette releases.
Cassette is not a word I have had to write in a number of years and I had to think about how it was spelt. But I digress. This release is made more palatable when it is thought of as a series of demo releases rather than an album release. The ferocity of the drums if probably the best generation of a visceral surge in this music, but many of the recordings could be helped with a metronome.
The guitar tone is very old school, something from old Possessed or Repulsion, but once again, the performance could use a bit of polish. The same could be said for the mixing and mastering.
I would love to hear what these guys would sound like with a producer giving them a hard time in the studio trying to get the best out of them. The passion is clearly there, but the execution is just not enough to get them over the line in this day and age in modern metal music.
Suitable for the hipsters of death metal who don’t know they’re hipsters.
Release Year: 2019
Label: Awakening Records
Category: Album
Country: China
Reviewed by Liam Frost-Camilleri
