Sometimes something curious happens with certain records: they do not arrive with a huge campaign, they are not everywhere, they do not come wrapped in a massive promotional machine, but when they finally fall into your hands, they leave you with the feeling of having discovered an open sewer in the middle of so much domesticated metal. That is what happened to me with ‘Release the Rats’, the debut album by Norway’s Vomitizer. Honestly, this is a record that surprises with its strength, its variety and its almost insolent way of entering the field and scoring a goal in the very first minute.
The first thing that stands out is that this is not a timid debut. Vomitizer does not sound like a band asking for permission. From the opening track, the album comes in with direct, dirty and contagious energy, as if the band knew perfectly well that it does not need to decorate its proposal too much in order to convince. There are riffs that crack and grind, galloping drums, tempo changes, faster passages, slower and more dragging moments, and a constant feeling that the album moves with real hunger. It is not a perfect album in the polished or academic sense of the word, but that is precisely part of its charm: ‘Release the Rats’ breathes filth, irregularity, impulse and underground life.
The thematic side also works very well. Horror, dystopia, dirt, deformed bodies, rats, decadence and that twisted imagination that has always been connected to the old school of Death Metal. From the cover artwork alone, the album already speaks a very clear language to those who love this kind of sound. The illustration has something grotesque, filthy and almost gore about it, with an aesthetic that points back to a time when covers could still look dangerous, ugly, sick and fascinating at the same time. Maybe many newer generations do not fully understand that kind of visual impact anymore, but for those of us who grew up looking at rotten covers, mutilated bodies, absurd creatures and worlds in decomposition, this drawing already works as a declaration of principles.
Musically, what makes Vomitizer interesting is that it is difficult to reduce them to a single label. Yes, there is Death Metal. A lot of Death Metal. But this is not a closed, rigid or overly orthodox form of Death Metal. On ‘Release the Rats’ there is also Thrash, Heavy Metal, and slower moments that almost touch Doom or even a certain Sludge-like dirtiness. The guitars have that rough cracking sound that makes everything feel more physical, more real, more like a rehearsal room, more like a basement than a laboratory. The band is not trying to sound prodigious or excessively calculated. It goes straight to the point, and that is something to appreciate.
At several moments, one can think of a more primitive Death Metal tradition: Autopsy, Obituary, perhaps something of that spirit where a song does not need to disguise itself as a complex work in order to function. The idea is to strike, infect, move forward and leave a smell behind. But Vomitizer does not simply copy a formula. What makes the album attractive is that every song seems to have its own small deformity. There are breaks, accelerations, heavier riffs, narrated moments, strange atmospheres and structures that do not always behave in a predictable way. That keeps the album from becoming boring, and that is a huge point in its favor.
Some reviews have mentioned that certain songs may feel a little undercooked or somewhat irregular. That may be true. But in this case, that irregularity does not necessarily work against the album. On the contrary, it gives the record a wilder and less domesticated character. There are albums that are too perfect and end up sounding dead; ‘Release the Rats’ has imperfections, but it also has blood running down the walls. It sounds like a band that is still discovering how far it can go, but already has an identity, an energy and a sense of craft that many bands with more years behind them fail to transmit.
It is also true that there seems to be very little information around Vomitizer. In a way, that increases the feeling of an underground secret. But it also leaves an open question: why did an album with this much potential not receive a bigger campaign? Both the band and the label could push this material harder, because there is something here that deserves to circulate more widely. ‘Release the Rats’ has the cover, the songs, the attitude and the personality to reach more people within the extreme metal circuit. We are not talking about just another band lost in the pile; we are talking about a debut that could leave many people with their mouths open if it were given the right space.
One of the greatest merits of the album is that it can even work for listeners who are not completely committed to the most closed form of Death Metal. There is enough brutality for the usual maniacs, but also enough rhythm, hook and variety to catch someone coming from Thrash, darker Heavy Metal or even dirtier and more dragging sounds. That mixture gives the album a special personality, even more so coming from Norway, a country one usually associates immediately with other branches of extreme metal, but which here delivers a twisted, fresh and very attractive Death Metal energy.
‘Release the Rats’ is one of those albums you feel you have to recommend. Not because it is perfect, but because it has something more important: character. It has riffs, it has smell, it has artwork, it has spirit, it has songs that do not feel boring, and it has that impulse of a band that seems to have entered the studio with a real need to vomit something of its own. As a debut, it is solid, powerful and promising. If we take it to football terms, Vomitizer is that new player who enters the field and scores immediately. You do not know yet if he will become a legend, but you already know you have to keep watching.
Hopefully the band is already composing new material, because the potential is obvious. If they manage to keep that filth, that variety and that energy while pushing the songwriting and identity even further, they could deliver a much bigger second blow. For now, ‘Release the Rats’ remains a great secret to recommend to everyone who loves Death Metal with dirt, attitude and old spirit. Vomitizer does not come to ask for permission: it opens the sewer, releases the rats and lets the plague do the rest.
