SPASTICUS / BOIA – Spasticating Execution / CD JEWELCASE

Two upstarts in the thriving-yet-overlooked Italian death metal underground, SPASTICUS and BOIA both here offer three exclusive tracks each, making for a 22-minute plunge into dankest Italian sewers. With a demo and EP already to their name, SPASTICUS are off to a swift start in their two years of existence. Not surprisingly, their sound is also swift, recalling turn-of-the-’90s grind-leaning death metal that places a premium on catchiness – and clear, crunchy production, making that catchiness hit that much harder. BOIA are looser by comparison, but equal their split-mates in sheer filthiness. From headbanging midtempos to scurrying blasts, twisting and turning but somehow still memorable, BOIA surely recall classic Autopsy across their entry here and yet give it a grimy giallo aspect endemic to their Italian heritage. Naturally.