Unsigned and Unholy: Carved, Hemwick, La Quina

It takes a helluva melodic death metal band to impress me these days — the market is just so saturated — but the Italians in Carved have done it. It’s probably because they’re not your classic melodeath band at all; Carcass are the closest touchstone, but elements of Enslaved, Dream Theater and even Dying Fetus creep their way into the band’s music, too. New album Kyrie Eleison is out now via Revalve Records.

Hemwick are very much in the Gorguts/Dysrhythmia/Ulcerate school of death metal: visceral, skronky, gut-churning and startlingly uncomfortable. If you dig any of those bands you’ll probably be way into this Utah-based group, all of whose sounds come from just two dudes. Stream their summer release Involuntary Unearthing below.

Sometimes you just wanna deathgrind. For those days — like today — there’s Spanish outfit La Quina (“the corner”), who just released The Legacy of the Retarded Rat EP. What legacy would that be? We’re still not really sure, but judging by the ferocity of these tracks it sounds like the poor guy didn’t have a very comfortable life.