I knew I wasn’t alone when I thought I’d hear some goregrind from the band with the moniker World of Shit. This is what I asked one of the band members, Eric Bauer, and he said “no, we play death metal”. I thought to myself “We’ll see about that”, but I have to admit that Eric was right. I’ll put it this way, I would not name a death metal band World of Shit, but my opinion on that subject should not matter, and, after all, I am trying to review music here, not the band’s name.

World of Shit is just two people, Eric Bauer on guitars and bass, and Mathias Bunte on drums and vocals. Eric lives in Chicago and Mat lives in Berlin, Germany, that must make recording and playing together a toughie. Still, for two players who only get together periodically, the band displays a good deal of cohesiveness, and surprising level of good musicianship. How often do we hear a misconception – death (or black) metal is just a cacophony, anybody can pick an instrument and make all that noise. I will not use this review to dispute this shallow statement, but it can’t be further from the truth.

The promo sheet claims that the band “plays death metal from all genres”. Aside from asking Eric how many death metal genres there are, I’d say World of Shit plays just one brand of death metal – brutal blasting and shredding variety, heavily influenced by the likes of Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal and Nile. While no Trey Azagthoth (who is though), Eric comes up with some crazy guitar runs (Demanangel) and eerie, almost schizophrenia inspired, leads (Punish the Innocent, Servant). I liked riff parts which were more structured (Laugh at the Crying), than chaotic. Mat’s vocals also reminded me of Steve Tucker’s low growl, and his drumming is solid as well, although it seemed that when singing came in the drumming had to slow down.

While definitely proficient with their instruments, I’d want World of Shit to become better songwriters. I don’t argue that their songs are kept short not to become boring, but they also weren’t very memorable for me, and at times seemed too short. Just about when I wanted the riff to be repeated a few times, the song was over.

I certainly would not recommend this demo to anybody who is just getting into death metal, much more so who is a novice in metal period. Guys, you may suffer the shock. World of Shit is not for the weak of heart. On the other hand, fine folks at Earache or Relapse may find this interesting, and give the band better pointers than me. They have much better musical knowledge and always had the ear for talent.