The riffing slashes through the heavy bulldozing drumming when they shift into double bass patterns. The quartet applies various death metal styles into the mix but don’t be fooled by the sci-fi intro in the opening song “Neurologic Necrosis”.

The drumming is at the forefront and driven by pummeling riffs, and the sound production oozes filthy retro quality. The tempo of the songs is intense and heavily aggressive because Mutagenic Host draws its influences from European and American death metal. However, I wouldn’t say that debut is a crossover style of classic death metal because the band incorporates some hardcore influences. The riffs in “Genestealer” somehow remind me of Obituary.

The pummeling double bass and the guitars showcase the Floridian style of death metal, the ten tracks are groovy and brutally aggressive.

You can also hear the HM2 tone of the guitars adding an extra kick to the songs, for example, “The Twisted Helix” leans towards a slower pace, the drumming technique and the tempos range from heavy stomps to slow pace, but it perfectly works well. You can expect plenty of grooves, powerful guitar riffs, and swift tremolo riffs perfectly woven between the doomy sections.

There are tons of double bass sections and unrelenting brutality in the opening of “Artificial Harvest of the Obscene”. The down-tuned HM2-styled guitars will remind you of the Swedish death metal bands like Grave and Entombed that are carried along with the deep growls.

The vocals are fair, I wouldn’t say they are perfect, but they bring an extra oomph to the ferocity of the guitars; Mutagenic Host savagely presents its raw old-school motifs across the album. In the song “Organometallic Assimilation”, the guitars have a killer meaty tone while the drums sound impressive. The drum fills are impressive the songwriting meets the intensity of death metal and hardcore, and there are plenty of breakdowns even when the distorted tone of the bass guitar is amplified.

“DIRECTIVE:: [kill_on_sight]” is a short interlude that gives the album a spacey vibe that reflects the cover theme of the album until the guitar and the bass work reaches its powerful climax in the next song “Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter”. The riffs maintain the intensity and apart from the bouncing hardcore riffs and groove-laden double bass, these moments blend into a proper sledgehammer brutality.

The songs don’t deviate from the general sound of Mutagenic Host instead the sonic influence is present throughout the album and traditionally the band upholds the musical climax through the weight of the swelling riffs. Each song transitions rapidly from one riff to another killer riff and having some of the filthiest and brutal riffs to offer on “S.W.A.R.M. (Systematic War Against Restless Machines)” has some blast beats.

The drums reign with crushing double bass filthy hostility and punchy heavy drums that deliver a blistering performance in “Promethean Dusk”. Arguably one of the most varied tracks on the album, the guitar emphasizes atmosphere and melodies. The blast beats are present and the cohesive guitar work and the drums showcase the visceral performance that plods and crushes between the excellent dynamics.

The final song “Rivers of Grief” which is instrumental sees the quartet expanding their take on death metal on the atmospheric level thus achieving great standards musically, the Sci-Fi cinematic parts imbue a kind of creepy vibe before the guitars and the drums pulverize your ears into oblivion.

This is a great moment for the London newcomers, and I am quite enthusiastic about what the band will bring in their next studio album.

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