Last Retch – Ergotism [EP]

After having released an outstanding demo and an equally great debut album in 2021 and 2022 respectively, the Canadian Death Metal band Last Retch treats us with a new EP in the Spring of 2024. What I particularly appreciated of both those two earlier efforts was what I called a balancing act between using very recognizable Old School Death Metal elements and a more modern approach to the genre – especially in the production. While ‘Ergotism’ has much of that tactic still intact, they also changed a bit of their goings…

The main ingredients are still pretty much the same. Nice and chugging riffs that are reminiscent to the old British Death Metal scene (Benediction for the most part), low growling vocals that are a bit like Fleshcrawl’s Sven “Svenson” Gross (RIP) as well as some hints of melodicism all packed in a chunky production that holds an echo of the Swedish sound. But, it is in the overall production in which the main difference can be found. While the debut album had quite an organic sound, these new tracks sound a bit more compressed and digital.

Usually I am not really a big fan of such a production, but I can’t say that the music is really suffering from it. But especially in the closing title track, which is a bit slower and even has a atmospheric and doomy character, it lacks a little of that tasty crunchiness that I loved so much of the debut record.

Wrapping things up, the production took me a bit to get used to, but the songs are as strong as on the previously released demo tape and debut, so ‘Ergotism’ is again a piece of highly enjoyable Death Metal. Recommendable for those who enjoy a bit of Benediction, old Six Feet Under or Grave.