If there has been one highlight for the music world in Pandemia, it has been the coming together of creative minds that may never have had the time on their hands to collaborate. Such is the case for Humanity is Cancer, a meeting of death and black metal minds Thomas Haywood (ex-Abigail Williams, Aborted), Michael Wilson, Noah Buchanan (From The Hellmouth, Nunslaughter), and Lyle Cooper (ex-The Faceless, Abhorrent) that bode their time until the human condition was at its absolute nadir. Their debut self-titled EP is seventeen and a half minutes of brutality, a punishing reading of the litany of mankind’s sins in four installments.
I’ve previously covered the first two tracks, “Cancer is Humanity (A Future of Violence and Death)” and “Harlot,” and after giving each one another cursory listen, I can confirm that they’re still bangers. “Cancer is Humanity” is a blow to the head, from its blast beat-ridden first verse to the onslaught brought forth by the outro. “Harlot” is a nasty little number, looking at how fast its predecessor went and chuckling to itself.
“The Punishment Due” lives up to its name, with beaucoup triplets making for a hell of an intro. The machine gun kicks are shooting to kill, and my right hand pains me as I imagine the amount of alternate picking the guitarists employed on this one. Before you can crawl away, the sludgy and bend-happy “Beyond Salvation” features some more atmospheric guitar work on top of the gruesomeness we’ve grown accustomed to.
This is the kind of release to show to someone who claims that death metal isn’t what it used to be. In one way, that person may be right, but they’re also lacking the brains to love modern death metal, and the four behind Humanity is Cancer clearly love it enough to come together and forge this slasher film of an EP. May this cancer spread into a full-length sooner rather than later.
Humanity is Cancer will release on Friday, November 13th via Redefining Darkness Records. Pre-order the album via Bandcamp below:
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