10 Jul 2021

Compilation review: Dugu - Skeleton Nausea Abyss (2019)


Dugu - Skeleton Nausea Abyss

China

Awakening Records

The insane Dugu from China have been stalking the world with their repulsive and noisy brand of death/thrash since 2018. With this release, the Awakening Records label made a compilation of all their material to date, which was released in 2019. Maybe in the beginning you might find the mixing of the songs a bit odd, but that’s exactly how it sounds when it’s a compilation, like amputated limbs of different people forming a new body.

Their ability to make loud music on the Asian continent is admirable. The album is an explosion of noise, but good noise. Everything is perfectly audible and frenzied. That raw and cavernous aspect gives the music a quality essence that – at least from my point of view – I understand what they are doing. The blazingly fast solos are so wild that it sounds like a string might break at any time, although what’s really surprising is the fact that they do not give that much prominence to the guitars. The vocals sound like a hungry growling beast. The band shapes chaos in their own way and not the other way around. The bass and drums have a very good synergy, both sounding very forceful and direct like a fist to the skull. Throughout this compilation the band carries out several covers (showing their influences) although one of them is very notable Poison (Germany). Immediately I could perceive that rancid essence that emanates mostly from the guitar. The music conjures images of the gang feasting on leftover corpses from abominations of decades past, like mouldy fungi that make meat fall off bones.

The passion for the old school is very evident on “Skeleton Nausea Abyss” and I think they are on the right track. Let's hope we are alive to witness the release of their debut album. If not, then they have already left their mark with this production. For fans of: Morbid Saint, Possessed, Poison. (Catacombs Walker)