There's something to be said about following a local band from their beginnings, how the progress and evolve over time. For me, Nerrus Kor is one of those bands, and is one of, if not the first, band that I cut my reviewing teeth with for a previous site. Their previous EP was a very well put together demo that showcased the band's groovy, head bobbing death metal in a fine light. In a time when Scotland's local scene was heading back into a low point they became a standout band, and worked their arses off to get themselves a decent amount of reputation around the UK and a benchmark for which local death metal bands should be tested against. Four years and some line up changes later they've put together their second EP "Frenzied, Savage, Inhumane".

Musically the band are a tight and as fierce as they've ever been, and can clearly punch above their weight, with some fairly obvious Eastern European influences combining with the odd little black metal moment. Carthage is a prime example of this, with some little runs that could be considered an homage to either Nile or Melechesh in equal measure mixed in with that weighty, constant groove. And here's where it gets slightly tricky, especially with bands you know and associate with. For all the praises I can and will sing about Nerrus Kor the production on the EP is shoddy. Opener The Unnamed should be the frenzy of the EP's title, but the production is so messy, with the bass almost inaudible and the drums overpowering almost everything, that what should be a clubbing right to the jaw is dampened down to a padded, glancing blow. You can hear what the band is aiming for, and you will want it to happen as the song is that good, but the curse of bad production strikes at the worst of times. While the rest of the EP manages to avoid the same issues, it's still uneven and scattershot that even a casual listener can hear obvious sonic differences between tracks.

And that's a fucking shame, as the band have clearly worked hard on this. It's laden with hooks, riffs that are drill into your skull, and Neil Munro's vocal delivery, mixing up his styles in the high, mid and low ranges while constantly maintaining a degree of lyrical clarity that so many bands just fail at is extremely impressive. Even with its flaws, I really, really recommend that you check their EP out. For all its lack of polish it's still a solid release, and even that is only a bit of mixing and mastering away.


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