laceration

"Remnants" Help Make Laceration's Thrash Whole

laceration

Laceration is locked into that time when the second-generation emergence of thrashers who thought death metal was cool but liked circle pits even more. They even can claim the Bay Area as their literal homeland, hailing from Windsor, about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge, though their spiritual home seems a lot further south.

“Realms of the Unconscious” kicks off Remnants with a clean guitar whose ominous tone gives way to furious double-time double bass drums and gnashing riffs. It mimics the exact same way that Sepultura’s worldwide breakthrough Beneath the Remains introduced itself to the world, rekindling a moment in time when it looked like Brazil was going to take the mantle of thrash epicenter of the world away from Germany, New York, and of course San Francisco.

Despite Remnants being the first full-length release for Laceration, it is actually a compilation of two early demos – 2010’s Realms of the Unconscious and Consuming Reality from the year before – and a 2013 split with fellow Californians Tinnitus. The band emerged from a five-year hiatus with guitarist Donnie Small and drummer Michael Simon joining original members Luke Cazares (guitar/vocals) and Corey Toleu (bass).

Laceration is working on what will technically become their debut (a three-song demo Imitation with the new lineup was released on cassette and CD by Rotted Life Records); however, Unspeakable Axe, the thrash sub-label for Dark Descent, realized it would be a shame for these riffs to never see a wider release.

Check out an exclusive stream of Remnants below. Standout cuts aside from “Realms of the Unconscious” include the insane speed of “Shadows of Existence,” “Exhausted in Form” (which features a spooky intro and a rare bass break), “Hobo With a Shotgun,” which uses samples from the 2011 Canadian horror flick of the same name, and the dive-bomb solos during “Arise Within.”

Remnants releases on Friday via Unspeakable Axe Records.

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