ROTTREVORE - Hung By The Eyesockets MCD

While I've always enjoyed Rottrevore well enough, I can't say that I am or was ever immune to the opinion that they were a bit of an 'also ran' to that OTHER Pennsylvanian death metal juggernaut. You know the one, and if you don't then you're probably not reading this to begin with. Now don't get me wrong: Iniquitous was never quite so ominous, malignant and claustrophobic as an Onward to Golgotha...the album seemed so slightly more straightforward and I daresay 'brighter' than its better known peer, which I'm not shy in admitting used to scare the fuck out of me when I was younger. But on the level of technical merit, the two were comparable and both have retained a lot of their timeless, oppressive quality even after the span of two decades. So, when first listening to Hung by the Eyesockets, I was taken aback by how little had changed for Rottrevore in 20 years...