Ribspreader announces its tenth album.
Created in 2003 by Swede Rogga Johansson (vocals/guitar/bass, Dead Sun, Massacre, Megascavenger, Paganizer, Revolting…), the project has been completed by Taylor Nordberg (lead guitar, Deicide, Inhuman Condition, Goregäng…) and Jeramie Kling (drums, Ex Deo, Goregäng, Inhuman Condition…) since 2016. Reap Humanity is released by Xtreem Music in 2024.
The Skeletal Towers gets off to a slow start with a blood-curdling scream, but the band soon picks up the pace with simple but catchy patterns. The Old School mix perfectly fits the track’s aggressive approach, which occasionally lets its leads be more melodic, as does A Fleshless Gathering, which charges in without delay to carry us away in its dark but effective waves. Ominous harmonics punctuate the track, as do more vivid explosions, leading us to Reap Humanity and its initially slower riffs, which take advantage of the blast to become more energetic and crush us as usual. The track also features a more groovy passage, before the final opens with Count Damnation and its screaming guitars, which also welcome morbid vocal parts over an anguishing rhythm that accelerates to become just as wild as the previous tracks. As the Ghouls are Summoned gives us just a moment to breathe before bludgeoning us at breakneck speed in the purest Death Metal tradition for four minutes, only disappearing at the very end to let Like Breeding Vermin take over. The track has the same punch, but plays much more on bright dissonant melodies, whereas Further Into Decay, the next one, returns to jerky riffs, not forgetting its tortured lead parts and raw vocals. The band gives us a few seconds’ respite with Human Fodder, which starts with hazy guitar, but is soon obliterated by fast, bloody riffs that lead into the introductory sample of Shrouded in Despair, a relatively short outro where the musicians offer us a final heady, melodic rhythm without vocals.
Ribspreader, who were formed just over twenty years ago, have already established themselves as one of the essential Old School Death Metal bands. Reap Humanity will undoubtedly contribute to this status, adding a handful of catchy compositions to their discography.
85/100