In today’s modern world of many vying for representation in as many forms as media as possible, it can become hard for many to find a foothold where others will get most if not all of the attention while others are left to squander in the backdrop despite the best efforts of plenty of people. When it comes to metal, we’ve been fortunate enough to always have a place for anyone to have a platform to speak their views or embrace their traditions, even if that leads to conflicting ideologies in certain circumstances. Ethnic representation, however, has always been fascinating to me in the world of metal. It’s endlessly interesting to see different cultures brought to the table to stand the test of extreme metal, and it can often be the case that we’re met with a wild breath of fresh air that we never knew we needed. Without question, Ripped to Shreds is one of the more recent to bring Asian culture to the world of death metal, and they’re certainly among those that do it naught but extreme justice!

Black Kirin, HolyArrow, and Enchantenka are easily the three names that come to my mind most prominently whenever I think about bands out of Asia that provide those of us outside it with peaks into their culture through the lens of extreme metal over the years with their albums all but unique in the underground for how much they manage to achieve on several different levels. It’s rare that we get a band that can come to such a level, but patience always wins out with such situations as it’s only in the last few years that we’ve been rewarded for such in the form of Ripped to Shreds whose rise through the underground has been no less than blistering and awe-inspiring. A creation of unyielding death metal, time has only been kind to the act with its newest creation, “劇變 (Jubian)”, certainly capable of being called the band’s crowning work to date. Across the very whole of this 36-minute runtime, not a single moment is wasted at the expense of doing anything less than perfection to the very meaning of the album title: “upheaval”. Truly, you get the sense that “劇變 (Jubian)” seeks to grip the very roots of all that comes before it with the sole desire to render it into the air to cause the most destruction possible with a purpose that is all but single-minded and determined to the maximum with death metal all but the most immaculate vessel that one could ask for with such a vision in mind.

Ripped to Shreds has already proven over its previous efforts that it is in no way a name that is to be underestimated in its visceral power, but it’s with all that they’ve managed to bring forth with this, their third full-length album, that they’ve certifiably raised the bar. The layers and density of “劇變 (Jubian)” speaks for themselves as it manages to accomplish all of its goals at virtually every turn with it all but setting the stage for the success of Ripped to Shreds to truly come to the next stage of its destiny.

“劇變 (Jubian)” releases on October 14th via Relapse Records!

LISTEN to singles from “劇變 (Jubian)” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ripped to Shreds on Facebook here.