SANGUINEOUS, a two-piece which rose after the demise of the brutal Australian band EXCARNATED, returns to the scene with their second recording after 2007’s MCD “Extinguish The Dying Light of Serenity”. This time with a tape (cool!) containing four bludgeoning compositions. Please ignore the totally misleading review of said MCD on these pages, SANGUINEOUS sound nothing like MORTICIAN. Instead, Tony Abou Nader and Chris Newell churn out some vicious and dark blasting Death Metal in the vein of e.g. early INCANTATION mixed with the mindnumbing speed assaults of KRISIUN as well as NILE, especially when the lead guitar delivers some slightly chaotic soloing. Overall the pace is very fast, almost inhuman… and yes, SANGUINEOUS use artificial drums but compared to “Extinguish…” the production has been definitely improved so that the drum sound itself comes across as natural. Nevertheless the band does not solely rely on faceripping speed as plenty of slower passages are included to contrast the blasting riffs and to add further variety to the material, as for example on the last track, ‘Pious Souls Captured By Oblivion’. The deep and powerful vocal delivery of Chris Newell is along the lines of Craig Pillard or Ross Dolan and adds up to the intense and morbid atmosphere of the tape. Judging from song titles like the one above or ‘Skeletal Remains From A Messiah Lost’ the subject matter is appropriately dark as well. The overall package is simple but effective: the booklet is graced by an obscure cover in black and white with a red logo on top and contact addresses on the other side. The tapes are also pro-printed, no home-dubbed stuff here. You can get this demo for 5US$ / 5 € postage paid directly from the band and from several small underground distros. While not groundbreaking (do people care about that?), this is a cool demo for fiends into brutal and dark Death Metal without any slam breakdowns. At www.sanguineousdeath.com you can find the contact details as well as some samples, also from the MCD which still is available.