Dying Fetus

What better way to celebrate 20 years of Dying Fetus than to release a covers EP? There are most likely some better ideas, actually, but this will do. To mark said 20th anniversary, John Gallagher and company unleash History Repeats..., featuring the legendary Maryland band's take on tracks by some of the finest death/grind bands. Including covers of Dehumanized, Napalm Death, Broken Hope, Bolt Thrower, Pestilence and Cannibal Corpse, the EP provides a well-rounded spectrum of old school, no frills metal. Fetus's renditions of "Unchallenged Hate" (Napalm Death) and "Twisted Truth" (Pestilence) are the most accomplished and precise, while their take on Corpse's "Born in a Casket" provides extreme bang for a closer. Fetus also include a short, grind-influenced original track, "Rohypnol," which features some of Gallagher's finest pig squeals to date. While the covers are very well executed, there's no experimentation; Fetus's versions are extremely faithful to the originals, which isn't necessarily a great thing. Other than the one original offering, History Repeats... is rather pointless.