Edinburgh’s Cancerous Womb have created a bit of a buzz on the underground UK death metal scene over the last few years. They’ve gigged extensively across the UK and Europe and some of my buddies in other death metal bands have raved about them to me but up ‘till now I’ve yet to have the pleasure of hearing them.

When I got the album through I have to admit that due to the band’s name I was expecting some pig squealing bullshit ‘brootal tech death’ bollocks to come blasting out of my speakers… Fuck me, was I in for a surprise!

Cancerous Womb have produced an absolutely fantastic debut album that, since Alex sent it to me, has been on constant rotation here at Eve Mansions! It’s nothing like what I expected… This is premium quality death metal make no mistake!!

The band mix some really groovy SFU style elements (Hunted To Extinction / Grind, Tear & Slice) with some amazing thrash metal riffing (Austrian Basement / the title track) to create a really fresh, inventive & vibrant sound that should appeal to every real death metal fan.

The guitar work of Mike Robertson is incredibly savage & precise – chugging along one minute & totally shredding the next – the lad can play, no doubt. Likewise, Paul Cook’s drums sound very natural avoiding the ‘typewriter’ over triggered & processed sound found on so many modern DM albums (Scalpel I’m talking to you!!) In fact the production is spot on all round.

Cancerous Womb are not just another death metal / grind act. This album really is that good & an amazing début. The band can be very proud of themselves.

It’s only January and so far we’ve had some fantastic new albums from Basement Torture Killings, Amputated, Dripback and now Cancerous Womb, this is shaping up to be a great year for homegrown death metal!