### Dying Embrace: Grotesque

#### 15/10/12 || BamaHammer

Death doom is rarely a style I turn my attention, but wherever there is quality shit, there shall lie my attention. Dying Embrace is, from what I’ve gathered, a downright legendary act in the Indian metal scene, and they deserve to be. “Grotesque” is a sub-15-minute EP that was self-released in 2000 that includes three fantastic tracks that makes me yearn to hear more from these guys every time I play them. The sound quality on this EP is pretty ugly, but the quality of the songwriting more than makes up for it. The guitar parts sound like they exploded out of the ’70s, but only if that decade was infinitely more brutal and heavy. Vikram Bhat is a fantastic vocalist (and all-around great guy), especially with his old goregrind project, Gruesome Malady, and his contribution on this EP is sick as ever in all its lo-fi glory. Guitarist Jimmy Palkhivala, who in my opinion, is one of death metal’s most underrated axemen, unleashes some of the heaviest riffs you’ll find anywhere and couples them with some fantastic retro-sounding leads. Overall, this is the kind of glimpse of Dying Embrace that really gives me high hopes of a full-length release in the near future. These guys are fantastic. If deathy doom is your game, check this band out.

8/10: And really hoping for more someday soon.