Bokluk are a Spanish Death Metal formation, nowadays consisting of Alex (vocals), Corey (drums), Iago (bass, vocals) and Tukas (guitars, as well as recording, mix and mastering). Their name became well-known after the release of the debut full album Taphonomy in 2014 (released via top-label Memento Mori), and now the quartet returns with an EP, released on tape via Underground Resistance and Locust Amber Records in an edition of 66 copies. It was recorded in the band’s rehearsal room in one day (late Winter 2015) and consists of five tracks, amongst which a Napalm Death cover song.
Intra-Vital Derangement opens with quite a cool intro (with the cool title √964), which can be compared – with some open-minded fantasy – to Mayhem’s legendary Silvester Anfang: not qua sound, yet performance-wise… It sets the tone for thirteen following minutes of uncompromising Old School Death Metal in the vein of the whole scene anno very late eighties / earlier nineties. Sweden and the U.S., Germany, Holland, Finland, the U.K., France, Poland, and for my part even Swaziland and Fiji; it’s just a direction I wanted to give. But in any case, especially the American and Swedish scene (and the Dutch one too) do come to mind when listening to those old schooled yet slightly technical constructions by Bokluk. The result is quite ‘tribute’-alike, lacking of invention yet focusing on the essence once brought by acts like Dismember, Bolt Thrower, Master, Incantation, Napalm Death, Entombed, God Dethroned, Paganizer, Obituary or Macabre.
The inherent old school vibe goes on within the sound quality too. The production indeed is low-tuned, lo-fi and unpolished, yet without lacking decency. The equilibrium in between all players is quite magisterial – I like it when the bass lines, for example, are so prominently present – but this goes for all ‘ingredients’. Besides, the vocals are a pure expression of the old styled tradition, and the many changes in tempo (including several superb slowed-down passages) are nothing but adorable.
The sole thing that cannot convince me is the cover version of Suffer The Children (Napalm Death), which misses the gruesome identity of the original edition. It’s an acceptable attempt, but I am afraid it stands miles away from the original (yet then again: Napalm Death and so on…).