Scorched to the bone, coughing gunpowder for days and skinned from crawling abysmally low the cavalry of the condemned behind Barcelona, Spain-based death/doom metal trio BOCC opt for a tank-heavy warfare on this buzzing sophomore full-length album. Themed on regional macabre historia and deranged myth ‘Demolarium‘ shifts away from the ruckus of crusted-over kicks and toward a sludge/doom metal steeled skeleton as the key feature of their continuing devolution. The resulting experience is easily read at face value as a death metal bruiser of today but there is yet plenty of grimy detail and nigh stoney nuance to scrape from the gears of their increasingly mountainous labors.

Bocc have been around since 2019 with the original quartet featuring folks with resumes in local underground brutal death, grindcore, sludge/doom and such as they’d blur those experiences into a ‘new old school’ ideation of doomed and punk-addled death metal. That lineup would establish the band’s style between a raw rehearsal grade demo (‘Demo I‘, 2019) through their first LP (‘Dolça mort en els llims del Rec Comtal‘, 2022) wherein sludgy death/doom and crust punk kicked rhythms would characterize their work alongside anti-fascist themes. In revisiting their prior discography one could approximate total impact nearby the slugged chunking of bands like Fetid, Thra and Coffins but linked up with the crust inspired death metal of the early 2010’s, a “modern” take o classic forms in some sense but not for the sake of commercial gloss.

For ‘Demolarium‘, which is not a demo compilation as I’d initially thought, the band’ve zoned down to a trio adding Andreu Cano from related band A Tomba Oberta on bass/co-vocals alongside guitarist/vocalist Emilio C. signaling a shift away from ex-Ósserp vocalist Xavier‘s ouevre on prior releases. Though Bocc haven’t totally lost their grinding crust punk inflamed edge this second LP reflects greater fusion of said elements into six lumbering beasts, longer form pieces hitting about ~7-8 minutes on average and glomming the band’s stance squarely into mid-paced death metal with a proper emphasis on sludge/doom metal inspired lumbering. Opener/title track “Demolarium” couldn’t be more straight forward in this sense, bustling step and lurching doom spread thick across its cyclic bounding.

Bocc‘d caught my ear more directly with the nearly ~ten minute Saint Vitus-esque stretch of riff that kicks off “Estigma”, a plodding motion that finds a number of slight redirects and variations on the trek through as we begin to absorb the sheer simplicity of the rhythms driving ‘Demolarium‘ as a whole. Blending Cianide level downtuned-to-Hell heft with movements a la early Penance b/w Grief nearby like this (see also: “4227”) probably won’t thrill the actions-per-minute brains of riff obsessives but might be an easy on-ramp for fans of classic sludge simplicity looking to hit closer to death/doom in sound and structure. The heavier (and longer) they lean into their fuzzier, doomed pulver the better.

Beyond those three enormous towers of doom the comingling of sub-genre here, now sans much of Bocc‘s earlier crustiness, isn’t as profoundly scattered in its reach. When ‘Demolarium‘ picks it up via scrambler “Escorxador”, closer “Ànima d’Acer“, and the ‘Through Silver in Blood‘ level grooves of “Calvari (Dels Condemnats)” before it provide just enough contrast in pace and density that the full listen remains eventful enough to carry the ~43 minute bludgeon through. If they’d leaned fully in one direction or the other it wouldn’t all have worked in concert but as a full listen, and a second full-length album, these folks’ve managed something more appreciably focused, contained but still entertaining in its slow burning roll.

The Bocc experience on album number two thrives by way of imposing sonic plunge, plenty of psyche-draining riffs, and strong graphic design… though I can’t comment on the lyrics as I’ve no meaningful grasp of català or a sheet to peck through. When taking ‘Demolarium‘ in as a follow-up and an evolution of the band’s efforts it reads as oddly minimalist in statement, straightforward but not droll in producing its major waves of riff and the rippling beyond, yet I’d felt like the punk energy was maybe too thoroughly excised as a gate-crasher out of these headier modes. Otherwise the trio’s heavier focus on doomed-out rhythmus felt like a grand development beyond their debut, a different and easier to read chapter but a compelling stomp through nonetheless. A moderately high recommendation.

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