Rest in Gore - Culinary Buffet of Hacked Innards (Sevared Records; 2011)

Slam-Minded is finally reviewing a brutal release from 2011. Does our year of reviews begin with a classic? Or are we looking at a complete failure? The answer is neither. Rest in Gore have crafted perhaps the most acceptable and middling album I have heard. Mediocre is too harsh a word to describe Culinary Buffet of Hacked Innards but good is a little too good to describe it.

The band behind this album hail from Japan, which is why it doesn't really surprise me that I found this album okay. A lot of Japanese bands have released some middle of the road material in the past couple years. For evidence, look at Gorevent or Infernal Revulsion's second albums. The songs on those albums just didn't have the kind of energy and dynamism that brutal death metal needs to stay interesting behind the wall of riffing, blast beats and growling.

And that is the flaw of Culinary Buffet of Hacked Innards. It's actually the only flaw, because otherwise things are pretty well executed. The musicianship is fine, the vocals are sick, and the drums are loud and fast. I also really like the Tony Koehl artwork and Rest in Gore is a pretty badass name. There's just no energy behind any of it. Its like the band is doing everything right, but they weren't excited by it.

Part of what I like about this kind of music is the "brutal aura" that the music creates. It's that "oh shit" feeling in that moment of silence before the huge slam. It's that crushed feeling after a particularly good technical section. I didn't feel that aura from this album.

So where does this leave us? I know this review sounds pretty negative, but as I said this is not bad in any way, it's just not particularly good either. My recommendation is to listen for yourself, and see if you like it more than me. The mechanics of a good album are there, so I feel like I might be missing something. Either way I am sure I will hear both better - and worse - albums this year.

[Nick's Note: Apologies for the lack of content recently. My computer died and I had to get a new one. Things should be back to normal now]

Suffocation and the Roots of Brutal Death

For good reasons Slam-Minded tends to focus on newer bands and newer releases. If we just talked about old material, the blog would get stale fast. However, I think occasionally it is worth revisiting the classics and the founders of a genre. Not only does this remind you of what makes the music great, it also means you are only listening to premium music. This is what I've been doing recently (as you can see, no reviews for a couple weeks), but I wanted to share my thoughts about probably the most important band for Brutal Death: Suffocation.

Suffocation pretty much single-handedly took death metal from heavier thrash metal and melodic stuff like Morbid Angel and the Swedish scene, and created the path of percussive, rhythmic, brutal death metal that we know and love today. No disrespect to those other bands, but I personally feel that the path Suffocation created is the best, and closest to what I feel is great about death metal. Listen to songs like "Infecting the Crypts" and "Liege of Inveracity" and you can see the seeds of slam death that would sprout a little less than a decade later. If you enjoy all the new bands that we write about here, then you owe Suffocation a debt of gratitude. I'm sure almost every reader of this blog has heard Suffocation, but I encourage you to go back and remember how amazing these guys were and are.

Gory Delivery - Conceived to Prevail (Permeated Records; 2010)

Because I write this blog (and because I like the music) I try to listen to as many new brutal/slam death metal albums as possible especially towards the end of the year. Of course, for a variety of reasons some albums just slip through the cracks. Gory Delivery's Conceived to Prevail was one of those albums. I think someone over at the Ultimate Metal forums told me about the album, but I forgot about it until the commenter zetasimo mentioned it on my Top 10 post.

I'm really glad he (she?) did because Conceived to Prevail is an excellent album. It doesn't reach the heights of the years' best, but it is one of those solidly good albums that I thought 2010 lacked. Sure, one album doesn't completely reverse a trend, but it's nice to be pleasantly surprised by an album.

Gory Delivery are from the Basque Country in northern Spain and share a drummer with Cerebral Effusion, who are also from the same region. Gory Delivery definitely share some of Cerebral Effusion's raucous energy and punishing technicality. However, I'd say Gory Delivery sound even more like bands from the highly regarded Italian scene, like Septycal Gorge, Blasphemer, and Vomit the Soul. Backing up my point, this album was mastered in Rome, and the cover art is by Marco Hassman, who has done cover art for the three aforementioned bands.

One thing all those Italian bands do well is balancing interesting technical riffs with pure heaviness. Gory Delivery fit right in here, and are equally skilled at slamming and teching. In this way, both sides are better. The slams are sharpened with technical bursts, which are then made stronger by the slams. Gory Delivery even throw a few good solos in, including a harmonized, Judas Priest-esque one. Not something a band can pull off in every song, but once an album is fun.

As I said earlier, this album is solidly good. What that means is that it has no flaws, but isn't as inspired or innovative as the best albums of the genre. Considering that there are usually only one to three of those innovative and inspired albums a year, I think that is pretty good praise. If you can't get enough of the music coming out of Southern Europe these days, then you will love this album.

Additional Note: Give the band some credit for coming up with a unique (albeit a little silly) sounding name with "Gore" in it. I thought that well had gone dry a while ago.

Ancient Necropsy Music Video

Ivan Jaramillo, the mastermind behind Ancient Necropsy, has released a music video for his song "Ghosts of Death Valley". This guy is amazingly good at guitar and drums. There are a couple other similar videos at his myspace. Check it out:

Ancient Necropsy @ Myspace

Brutal/Slam Death Metal Top 10 2010

I know I'm a little late, but here is my list for 2010's best albums.

1. Defeated Sanity - Chapters of Repugnance
There was no question in my mind that this album would be number one. It has everything that makes brutal death metal great. Musicianship, songwriting, brutality, groove. I can't say enough good things. Defeated Sanity proved themselves this year as one of the best bands currently making music.

2. Goretrade - Mistaken Conception
Another veteran band upping their considerable game on their third album. As I said in my review, Mistaken Conception effortlessly mixes killer Colombian brutal death with old school touches, and create a style all their own. Amazing album.

3. Cenotaph - Putrescent Infectious Rabidity
I finally differ with Andy (slightly) with my pick for the third spot. Cenotaph have long been a favorite of mine, and this is their best full length in recent memory. Another album I reviewed, Putrescent Infectious Rabidity is a roller coaster ride of technical, smashing slams. Listening to this style a lot can leave you jaded to the extremity, but this album destroyed me, and that is exactly what I want.

4. Cerebral Effusion - Impulsive Psychopathic Acts
Back to agreeing with my co-blogger, this album was raw and heavy and truly earned the right to be called brutal. These Spaniards released a steamroller of an album.

5. Hour of Penance - Paradogma
I have long been a fan of the Italian BSDM scene, but I had never listened to Hour of Penance until this album. They had always seemed different somehow than their countrymen. However, where they do not differ is in quality. In terms of sheer scale and dare I say epicness, this album rocks. (review)

6. Vulvectomy - Post-Abortion Slut Fuck
This album came out all the way back in January 2010 and for some reason was not received well by a lot of people. Perhaps it was because Vulvectomy changed up their style, but whatever it was this album was controversial. Regardless, I am a big fan of this album. It lacks the same naive charm that marked their first album, but made up for it by having some seriously groovy slams. Best album title of the year as well. (review)

7. Gortuary - Awakening Pestilent Beings
The most slamming band from California, Gortuary released a very good, but under appreciated album in my opinion. This album had great slams, great vocals, and surprisingly great guitar solos. I like it when bands doing something out of the ordinary while staying true to the genre, so I like this album. (review)

8. Pathology - Legacy of the Ancients
I haven't gotten around to reviewing this yet, but I was impressed by this album. Pathology somehow got signed to Victory Records (home of of a great deal of shitty metalcore), but did not lose any of their edge. I can't say this album blew my mind, but I think that is because Pathology have been so good for so long. I hope they continue to perform at this high level and I hope that being signed to a (relatively) major label does good things for the band.

9. Short Bus Pile Up - Repulsive Display of Human Upholstery
Short Bus Pile Up are simple band, but they are so good at what they do that it's hard not to like them. The slams are standard but the execution and energy are exceptional. I agree with Andy completely when he says that this band has a lot of potential.

10. Gorevent - Worship Paganism
I liked this album a lot, but I have mixed feelings putting it on the top ten list. I have always felt with Gorevent that they were almost, but not quite, in the top tier. After thinking about it though, this is a good album that showcases Gorevent's ability to create ultra-heavy music. (review)

In general I felt that 2010 had a lot of great albums, a lot of flawed albums, and then not much in the middle. This is why I had some mixed feelings towards the end of the list. There just wasn't that totally solid album to round out the list. Still I think there were two legitimate brutal death metal classics released this year, and a couple more that were close to that status. I really can't ask for more than that.

I hope everyone's 2011 has started well. Keep reading, commenting, and listening, and of course STAY BRUTAL!!!!!

-Nick