RIPPED TO SHREDS (California, USA) - 劇變 (Jubian) (new LP copy; not sealed) (2022) Released by Relapse Records on Transparent Blood Red vinyl - limited to 3,757 copies. 
 Led by guitarist/vocalist Andrew Lee, RIPPED TO SHREDS emerge from the West Coast underground with their ferocious new album, 劇變 (Jubian). The Death Metal trailblazers unleash their most fully realized and visceral work yet. 
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Andrew Lee in his home studio, 劇變 (Jubian) proves to be RIPPED TO SHREDS at their most focused and refined.
The album bursts wide open with “Violent Compulsion For Conquest,” an elegantly dark, new kind of chainsaw sound teeming with acidic vocals gnashing out lyrics inspired by the Mukden Incident. From its lightning-flash solos to those immensely killer echoing “Ough!”s, this absolute scather, according to Lee, was born to lead. 
Elsewhere, longtime RIPPED TO SHREDS fans will find the latest chapter of the ongoing ‘Sun Moon Holy Cult’ saga to be its most thrilling episode thus far. One of the album’s most impressive and catchiest tracks,“漢奸 (Racetraitor),” represents that “straight-up Melo-Death” banger Lee says he’s always wanted to produce while also giving vent to his experience as a minority in America. 
The charring “Reek of Burning Freedom,” Lee says, is “an anti-war song” that incites to remind its discerning listers of the the United States’ “indiscriminate bombing” campaign waged on North Korea during the Korean War.
Chainsaw guitars, relentless drumming, dizzying solos and disgusting growling throughout  - 劇變 (Jubian) is undeniably ripping Death Metal for the new age in 2022.  --  Relapse Records – RR7507, Relapse Records – RR75071