Stenched – Gorging On Mephitic Rot [Demo]

Festering through the speaker cones and into your very being comes forth the putrid sounds of this one man Death Metal band that calls Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico home, the nose, and ear, destroying Stenched. This, brand new in 2023, project is brought to us from the mind and hands of Adrian (just Adrian), who also just so happens to be the main and only man behind the impressive Impending Rot. And yes, I did say this is a brand new band and this fabulous release, ‘Gorging On Mephitic Rot’, happen to be the very first demo from Stenched, so let’s check it out.

‘Gorging On Mephitic Rot’ is four retched tracks that linger on for fifteen minutes of reek covered Death Metal. The band name here truly says it all with this demo, this is one stinky, odorous pile of vile, disgusting Death Metal. But that is really not any way to quantify what Stenched sounds for you, the reader. So, I will try my hand at a few comparisons if I must. Or shall I say a mix of acts would be a more proper way to describe the sounds found within this demo.

And that would just so happen to be a mix of The Chasm, Incantation and just a touch of Portal. The Chasm is represented in the furious, Mexican ways that they oh so love to play their Death Metal in Mexico, fast, feral and with a bunch of Punk fueled energy. You get your Incantation brought to you in the slower, Doom-y sections that creep and crawl along in the foul excrement. And finally the touch of Portal is in the uneasy, quirky atmosphere emitting forth throughout the whole proceedings. Mix all that together through the mind and extremities of one Adrian and you have Stenched’s ‘Gorging On Mephitic Rot’.

In terms of the overall sound, “production”, of this demo, I would have to say flat out that it’s a demo that sounds exactly like a demo, a good demo at that but still a demo. Crunchy, gravely and downright classic demo sounding really. And in a world of professional, Pro-Tools touched sounding demos it is nice to hear an act continuing the ways of old with a basement, four-track sound such as this. Just gives us old heads that warm fuzzy feeling inside. But I digress.

In the end ‘Gorging On Mephitic Rot’ is an outstanding demo. One that doesn’t push the boundaries of the genre but embraces the decaying flesh and sun-bleached bones of that which came before and praises them in a disgusting, feral and odorous fashion that only an act named Stenched can do.