UMUR "Sex. Violence. Death." is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Lowbrow. The album was released through Crook'd in 2001. It´s the successor to "Victims at Play" from 1999. It would be the band´s last album before disbanding in 2002. There´s been one lineup change since the debut album as bassist Scott Carino has been replaced by Richard Bateman.

Lowbrow was formed after guitarist Allen West was fired from Six Feet Under by Chris Barnes in 1997. His involvement with Obituary had also ended in 1997 after the collaps of that act (he would return to Obituary for a shorter stint when they reunited). West teamed up with four other guys who have played with, among others, Death, Nasty Savage, Massacre and Fester to form Lowbrow.

Stylistically the material on "Sex. Violence. Death." continues in the brick heavy groove laden death metal style of "Victims at Play". The Obituary influence is strong as well as references to Six Feet Under and also artists like Catastrophic and Pyrexia. It´s relatively simple, groove oriented death metal, delivered with great energy, aggression, and passion. Lead vocalist Rich Hornberger has a strong and commanding growling delivery. There isn´t much variation between tracks, and as a result the album does become a little one-dimensional along the way (which is similar to the way the debut felt). It´s not a major issue on a release of this type though, and while the album plays I can´t stop banging my head and smashing random things in my house...that´s the kind of emotions this release awakes in me and I would love to have seen Lowbrow live, which is where I suspect their music would be presented in the best way.

"Sex. Violence. Death." features a powerful, raw, and brutal sounding production job, which suits the aggression and heavy nature of the material perfectly. So upon conclusion this may not be the most innovative nor the most original sounding death metal release, but the brutality, the aggression, and the heavy grooves make this more than a worthwhile listen and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Victims at Play" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Lowbrow. The album was released through Crook'd in 1999. Lowbrow was formed after guitarist Allen West was ejected from Six Feet Under in 1997. His involvement with Obituary had also ended in 1997 after the collaps of that act (he would return to Obituary for a shorter stint when they reunited). The Obituary connection is further strengthened by the fact that Obituary drummer Donald Tardy acts as co-producer on "Victims at Play". West teamed up with four other guys who have played with, among others, Death, Nasty Savage, Massacre and Fester to form Lowbrow.

The music on "Victims at Play" is not surprisingly Obituary influenced death metal. A growling vocalist, relatively simple song structures and an emphasis on brutal mid-paced grooves. They occasionally take the pace down to really slow like they do in "Restoration" or a bit faster paced like they do in "Done It", but the tempo is predominantly mid-paced. The Obituary influence is to the extent where I sometimes expect to hear John Tardy´s distinct sounding growling vocals on top of the music. That´s of course not the case and fortunately lead vocalist Rich Hornberger does a great job and puts his personal stamp on the sound. The rest of the band are pretty tight playing too, but there is a charming organic touch to the delivery and you shouldn´t expect click tracked triggered drumming or other modern precision tricks on this album. This is old school downtuned death metal to the bone.

The sound production is dark, raw and brutal and perfectly suits the music. In fact all elements from the sound production to the musicianship to the songwriting go hand in hand and "Victims at Play" delivers just what it promises. A lesson in crushingly brutal and heavy groove laden old school death metal. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.