I listen to a great deal of death metal these days, so it's great to hear a band that takes on its own personality amid a genre that can be rather uniform in its sound and dynamic scope due to the common focus on aggression. This is a weird concept album that has the crazy spirit of Acid Witch if they were not obsessed with Halloween and were more focused on Carcass-like medical horror. The second song has some thrash moments to it. "The Autopsy" takes a more frantic approach that brings them a little closer to the more extreme fringe of death metal. The higher shrieked vocals hold more in common with Deicide as they accelerate the pummelling.
They are marginally more deliberate about "the Snaguine Fiend". Partially due to the speed at which they attack these songs, they keep the songs typically around the four-minute mark or less. After some moments getting mired down in the genre's need for speed, "Among the Offal" finds them back on track with songwriting that helps set them apart. They maintain this songwriting streak with " Anatomical Incantations," which does have faster sections, but it is balanced out by the passages of more grooving riffage. There are echoes of old Morbid Angel and Carcass, without being a blatant tribute to either. Though thematically they lean in a more Carcass direction, as I mentioned before.
The title track does not stand out as much as the previous two songs, mainly because it stays locked in such a thrashing speed. The last song, "Stitch By Stitch," has a more purposeful accent on the blazing fast chorus to differentiate it. While this is not the best death metal album of the year so far or offer a challenge to the albums that were on that list it does carve out their own place to carry the torch one Carcass retires, and for that I will give this a 9.It drops on Everlasting Spew Records September 11th.
Operating Altar by Cartilage pst308
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