Homo Iratus - Human Consumes Human

From Greece comes the death metal/grindcore act Homo Iratus. Human Consumes Human was originally released in 2001, and has recently been reissued by the folks at both Artic & Crash Music. As is the case with many grind-type releases, you get plenty of short songs here, 14 to be exact, featuring loads of crunchy grooves, cookie-monster growls, and even a slight industrial element at times. Not as out and out technical as other bands who travel this similar path, Human Consumes Human at times will remind you, from a musical standpoint anyway, of 90's Sepultura, as there's a big fat bottom end happening here, groovy as all hell, and the arrangements tend to be on the melodic side. It's the vocals of Mitch that drag this album into more of a death/grind territory, as his grotesque growls & grunts are mostly indecipherable, yet well done and offer a unique contrast to the tight, groove laden riffing. The band is rounded out by Alex on guitars & keyboards, Aggelos on bass, and drummer Argyris, with guest percussionist Bill Baharidis rounding things out. At just over 40 minutes long, Human Consumes Human rumbles along pretty quickly, as it offers up thrashy death metal like "Homo Sapiens?", raging grind as on "Hideousness Show", more industrial fare such as "Slavery/Freedom", and the above mentioned Sepulturaish numbers like "Life Like Violence" and "Dead Upon Conception".