Dying Remains Merciless Suffering Review
Dying Remains
Merciless Suffering
Maggot Stomp
2025
Canadian heshers Dying Remains are set to pulverize with their debut full-length, Merciless Suffering. Once the ink was dry on the contract with Maggot Stomp Records (one of the best independent extreme labels going these days), they got right to work, and the results are neck-pain-inducing.
These ten songs were recorded at Colossus Audio Productions, with mixing and mastering handled by Scott Oliphant. The production is deep - guitar, vocal, and drum-forward, with a tight mix and some sheen atop the raw, aggressive feel of everything. Dying Remains are a quartet, and for this release the overarching story from song to song takes the listener on a journey into a gargantuan, sprawling torture chamber. Every song references a method of torture or an implement of it in some way, so these compositions are not meant to invoke shiny, happy feelings. There is an angry, malicious feel to everything here, and it works well when you consider the lyrical themes and their songwriting.
For said songwriting, Dying Remains employ somewhat bouncy, mid-tempo arrangements heavy on the chugs and barking growled vocals. I’m immediately reminded of “slam death metal,” but there’s way more going on here, and it’s not the typical gross-out contest of much of that genre. They keep it fresh and forward-thinking with elements of speed, hardcore-inspired riffs, and very tasteful lead guitar playing, and, thankfully, no ridiculous pig-squealy vocals. I would describe them as what happens when Obituary, Jungle Rot, and the originators of slam, Internal Bleeding, have a very spiteful offspring.
Across 29 minutes they crawl, they sometimes blast, but most assuredly break down and plow through their simple and catchy arrangements with enthusiasm and vigor. Dying Remains has released one of my top death metal albums of the year with this album. I’m excited to see where they go from here.
Standout tracks: Merciless Suffering, Upon the Torture Rack, Sawblade Execution, Crushed, As the Blade Swings Down
RIYL: Obituary, Internal Bleeding, Jungle Rot, 200 Stab Wounds
~TB