With a sheer strength towards brutality, Death Metal will forever venture its blood stained fists. A cover of gore, a fast and deep ferocity, accented by gutturals, the generic idea is down and almost standardised. Vitriol are a Portland based Death Metal act that looks to take the scene by storm. Their EP, Pain Will Define their Death, a lead up to their debut: To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice. Immediately through production values, energy and musicianship, Vitriol force themselves above the general average tier of Death Metal. Their brand of Extreme Metal being with that sheer carnage of assaulting guitars and persistent violence that Death Metal is good for. Their double vocalists, though very similar to each other, give a variety to the proceedings that edges towards something that Deicide master. Pushing this all forwards is the massive force of drumming. Precise and powerful like a relentless gun battery, it is through the drums that songs like ‘Crowned in Retaliation’ and ‘A Gentle Gift’ really make their mark. Proving that the album has some fruit to bear through the blunt force trauma that constantly proves itself through the album. It is a relentless assault and in some ways this can be impressively powerful, but here, it surprisingly drowns out the rest of the complexity. What could have been an ambitious work falls to the blurred lines between the songs. To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice is certainly a powerful display of Death Metal, but it struggles in making itself too distinct. Guitars are perhaps more noticeable in songs like ‘The Rope Calls You Brother’, ‘A Gentle Gift’ and the middle of ‘Hive Lungs’, where it takes a centre stage to give a certain added value to these songs. In other songs, brutal assaults and frequent guitar solos actually just become each other, failing in the aims to give much power to each track. It is a mighty album and a mighty shame. There is clearly an ambitious methodology at work and it makes for fine examples of unfortunately standard Death Metal. For what could have been? We see tiny glimpses from song to song in the album To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice. When the songs roar out though, despite the limited amount that they do, they really roar. Score: 7/10 Facebook: /vitriolwarfare/ Bandcamp: /vitriolwarfare.bandcamp.com/ Big Cartel: /vitriolwarfare.bigcartel.com/