The Dregs

In 2007, Engineer, the Gorham Brothers — Bob, Brad, and Ryan — and drummer Mike AuClair find themselves on Metal Blade's Black Market Activities imprint. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jocko Randall (Ed Gein) at More Sound Studios, this Syracuse, NY quartet have achieved much in a short time. The sound of this ten-song set is enormous. "Scala Natura," which was posted on the band's Myspace page as an advance is indeed a fitting introduction. The sheer death metal roar starts: the guitars buzz, blastbeats propel and scudding basslines give vocalist Bob Gorham the wall of roiling racket he needs to growl his way into razor-blade laryngitis. The words are nothing to write home about. It's all bleak, all alienation, all the time. But as long as one doesn't regard the accompanying lyric sheet, that deep-throated yammer is just another instrument, right? The scraping squall in "Big Black Smile" and the drum attack in "The Thinning Cynic," are worth the price of the disc alone. Add to this the crater-driving guitars in "Waves" and the set's closing peal of low-end bass slaughter, and you really have something. Recommended.