Originally self-released, this EP has been given a wider rerelease by Rusty Cage Records, and whilst the vocals initially sound a little odd, Khaoz is a pretty great band overall. Featuring members of bands like Pleurisy, The Embodiment and Sinister, the Dutch six-piece play an old-school groove-ridden form of Death Metal that takes an intriguingly subtle and original route to pummelling the listener's ears. Two vocalists strut their stuff, one a low growl, the other a hysterical shriek, and it's the latter that provides the most oddness, since it's hardly the typical vocal approach to Death Metal, beyond even the Asphyxian howls of Martin van Drunen. Yet once you're used to this, the band soon prove themselves more than capable. Asphyx are actually a good comparison, moments like parts of Inveterate Fantasy being atmospherically sludgy and slow to the point of nearly sounding Gothic.

That's probably the best song on this EP, as it keeps you on your toes with near-constant changes and riffs - elsewhere, opener Only To The Worm has some rather killer riffs, Shattered Light Insanity grooves along wonderfully, and whilst Misanthropy churns along nicely, it doesn't have quite the same effect. Having said that, the tracks do blend together smoothly and have more than enough catchiness between them to make Twist The Knife A Little Deeper a good find - it'll be more interesting to see how the band fill a full-length. Given the room to experiment, they could be a name worth knowing, another interesting addition to the Dutch Death Metal league.

On a side note, Rusty Cage have recently changed from marketing and distributing CDs to become a digital-only label. It's an interesting move, and one that we will probably see repeated in the underground Metal world due to the current economic climate - good luck to them, and may their promotion of quality underground bands not go unrewarded.