Bitter |Slamosaurus Rex |CDN Records

Bitter formed in December 2024 in Quebec, with members spread across Montreal, Lanaudière and Gatineau. It started as a father and son idea between Yan Chatel on bass and backing vocals and Kilian Langlois-Chatel on lead vocals, then grew into a lineup of five with Michael Lalancette on guitar and electronics, Mathieu Parent on guitar and Eric Cooper-Lefebvre on drums. Beatdown deathcore is the ground it works, with Xenotheory, Kanine and The Acacia Strain as the names closest to its sound. The single “Malevolent” and a video for “The Slamosaurus Encounter” came out ahead of this EP.

“Slamosaurus Rex” is an EP of five tracks that runs a little over a quarter of an hour, and not one of them goes past four minutes. That is the right size for this style, where a breakdown needs a few bars to land and not a minute of buildup. Dinosaurs run through the titles, from “Cretaceous Slaughter” to “Extinction Level Event”, and the joke is played with a straight face, which gives the EP a face of its own among bands that all pick the same grim names. Mirmek Avitia of All Misery adds a second guttural voice on “Krocoslam The Deceiver”.

Florent Lambert mixed it at Hogtone Production and guitarist Michael Lalancette mastered it, a smart split that puts a second pair of ears on the sound, while his electronics add texture next to the guitars. The playing is committed, with drums and bass locked to the guitars, which is the first rule of breakdown music. The order is sound, with the video single “The Slamosaurus Encounter” in the middle and “Extinction Level Event” closing the story. The limit is variety. Five tracks in one lane leave few surprises, and by “Mastication” the pattern is set. A solid, heavy EP from a band under two years old, and one more twist between the breakdowns would have lifted it higher.

|7.5