Natu Sabverata Existing To Ensure Your Destruction
by Justin Gaines
Staff Writer
Existing to Ensure Your Destruction is the debut release from North Carolina-based death metal band Natu Sabverata, and is the first extreme metal album released on the Heaven and Hell label. Natu Sabverata has been active in the North Carolina metal scene for the better part of the decade, supporting bands like Lamb of God, All That Remains and Six Feet Under. Their style is fairly straightforward. They play brutal (br00tal?) death metal. Period. No melody, no “core”, just totally crushing death metal. Think Sepultura and Celtic Frost with a strong Slayer thrash influence and a touch of Napalm Death and Carcass for grinding good measure. While the band’s lyrical approach is decidedly anti-Christian, they probably don’t fall into Satanic metal territory. Still, the lyrical content definitely matches the music in brutality and aggression, and the post-apocalyptic cover artwork suits the music perfectly.
The second you hear the first grunt on album opener “A Bastard’s Birth,” you know exactly what’s in store. It’s wall-to-wall riffing, machine gun drumming and sinister growled vocals. While you can certainly appreciate the band’s devotion to their particular brand of metal, it does start to wear a bit thin after a few songs. What is no doubt a completely effective way of starting a pit at a live show doesn’t always translate well in a studio setting, and about midway through Existing to Ensure Your Destruction you start looking for something to break the monotony. The album might have been more effective if they had shaved off a few tracks.
If you’re in the market for sheer brutality, you’ll be hard pressed to find a 2009 release that’s fiercer and heavier than Existing to Ensure Your Destruction (aside, perhaps, from Dethklok’s Dethalbum II). If nothing else, you have to respect an American metal band that resisted the trendy lure of metalcore and stayed true to their own death metal sound.
Label: Heaven and Hell Records
Track Listing:
1. A Bastard’s Birth
2. Eyes of God
3. Godless State of Mind
4. I Decay
5. Sin Eater
6. Burnt Church
7. Cut Into the Bone
8. Denounce
9. Breaking Point
10. Servant To None
11. Hindered
12. Bow
13. Pin Point Hate
14. Where There Is a Will There Is a Way
15. Whimper of the Whipped
Lineup:
Jacob Edwards: Vocals, Guitar
Chris Castelda: Drums
Brad Gentry: Bass
Online: www.myspace.com/natusabverata
HRH Rating: 6/10