Nightfly I’m always on the hunt for new bands to check out. Most I come across are average and uninspiring or even total crap. Being competent in this day and age is not enough. Now and again though the search reaps a reward like in the case of Human Cattle, the debut album from Disowning, a death metal band whose members are divided between Canada and France.

From opening track Ghost Area things are looking good. A decent organic production is always a good start as we have here. Straight in with some blast beats and the obligatory double kick patterns over some compelling riffs lifted from the Trey Azagthoth songbook. It’s intoxicating stuff for sure and fortunately it proves not to be a one off. These guys are good and go for an old school vibe. Sure this stuff is fast at times but speed is not the overall objective giving these songs space to breathe and the riffs are immense. Morbid Angel and Immolation come to mind though these guys aren’t outright copyists but they have that similar crushing sound that Immolation do. They also inject some atmosphere into the mix and slow down before they explode into the next barrage of blast beats. Plenty of tempo and rhythm changes keep things interesting as perfectly demonstrated on Intoxicated by This Illusion. There’s nothing more boring than relentless blast beats with no change of tack on every track. You won’t find much in the way of melody though except on some of the lead guitar work which is certainly not a problem to these ears with down tuned heaviness being the top priority.

Human Cattle is not an original sounding album but who gives a shit when it’s this good. Every time I think I’m listening to my favourite track along comes another just as good to replace it. It’s hard to believe this is a debut album such is the maturity of the songs. The standard of musicianship is excellent too with strong vocals from Jesus “The Butcher” which are in the vein and low register of Immolation’s Ross Dolan.

This albums going to be on heavy rotation in my house over the next few months and will almost certainly feature on my best of year list in a few months’ time. You really need to check these guys out even if you just have just a passing interest in death metal, it’s that good.