It is summer, and summer is for MOAR SLAMS!!! 2026 hasn’t seen the most plentiful harvest from the most cavebrained of death metal subsets, but with choice items from acts like Glassbone, Utter Scorn, Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and Gravecrawler, I’ve been able to keep my slam cravings moderately maintained. Alas, the hunger grows perpetually. I needed MOAR, and it needed to be good. Enter New Zealand’s verb-the-noun slam quartet Utilize the Remains and their sophomore LP, Meaningless Existence. With a fully fleshed-out lineup as of 2023, can these Pacific rimmers sate my thirst for dummy unga-bunga death?
The short answer is yes! Featuring members of War Saw, Abhor, and known slammers Organectomy, Utilize the Remains slam and chug and gurgle their way relentlessly through 36 minutes of tightly wound, stomping material that fits neatly inside genre conventions. They do exactly 0 things to push the envelope or challenge expectations the same way artists like Wormhole or Devourment regularly endeavor, and yet their work satisfies the prompt with comprehensive ease and infallible competence. Moments of intelligence flash before me as numbers like “Devouring Neuropathy” and “Biochemical Emptiness” continually evolve into ballistic variants of its main theme. Nevertheless, consistency and adherence to the classic slam formula—a formula with one ingredient: skull-bashing riffs—take first priority at all times.
Meaningless Existence may not be the most innovative slam record, but it is great fun and sure to be a hit in any pit. Huge grooves that require an intimidating stride to traverse give top cuts “Biochemical Existence,” “Vicious Redemption,” “Flesh Ripped from Bone,” “Sadistic Manipulation,” and closer “Into Eternal Oblivion” a devastating swing and swagger liable to shatter bones and burst blood vessels en masse. Highly indicative of Organectomy’s album arrangements, instrumental “Encoded Within” shines a spotlight on the instrumental team constructing these destructive payloads in fine fashion, and leads me directly into the raucous, double-bass-heavy “Vicious Redemption.” Tightly arranged, Meaningless Existence boasts a level of compositional consistency that allows its best moments to shine without leaving the rest to flounder and stumble, but there’s enough variety in pacing and patterns to keep things from getting boring before the end. For a genre with as limited a palette as slam is often provided, that feat is admirable.
Nonetheless, stronger examples of the genre have done more with the same restricted toolkit. Opening salvos “Sealed Fate” and “Necrotic Chambers of Decay” don’t leave lasting impressions to help hype me up during the first quarter, instead fading gradually out of memory as Meaningless Existence progresses. “Keep Them All Docile” similarly exhibits well in the moment, but leaves no mark in the wake of the two huge bangers that bookend its placement in the runtime. Even Meaningless Existence’s strongest moments, like “Flesh Ripped from Bone,” leave some creative potential on the table. While there are clear opportunities to twist and bend riffs into novel shapes and take unorthodox paths to something exciting and uncommonly captivating, Utilize the Remains instead tows the company line without much in the way of deviation. This adherence to slam’s established blueprint affords Meaningless Existence a familiarity and a reliable fun factor that can’t be denied. By that same coin, however, Utilize the Remains rob their audience of a more fulfilling creative experience that those familiar with the band members’ pedigrees might reasonably hope to hear.
In the end, Meaningless Existence is a perfect summer album. Simple, dependable, muscular slamming death that offers no bells and no brain cells. It’s dumb as rocks and is liable to rock the house at any venue with metric fucktons of stomping, hammering fun. It could’ve been more interesting and adventurous without sullying slam’s caveman reputation, of course—and it would’ve been easy for these musicians to write it that way, too. They didn’t. While that’s a far cry from a disappointment in this arena, I find myself fondly imagining small changes, minor alterations, and little twists that might make Meaningless Existence a more surprising release nonetheless. Still, it’s hard to go wrong with something done well, and Utilize the Remains cleared that bar with ease.
Rating: Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: PCM
Label: Self-Released
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 18th, 2026
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