Friday 8 May 2015

Putrid Offal - ‘Mature Necropsy’ (Album Review)



Album Type: Full-Length
Date Released: 9/2/2015
Label: Kaotoxin Records

‘Mature Necropsy’ CD//DD track listing:

1.       Purulent Cold
2.       Garroting Way
3.       Mortuary Garlands
4.       Gurgling Prey
5.       Repulsive Corpse
6.       Suffering
7.       From Plasma to Embalming
8.       Organic Excavation
9.       Premature Necropsy
10.   Symptom
11.   Rotted Flesh
12.   Birth Remains
13.   Outro
14.   Freddy Kruger*
15.   Sane Men**
·         Total running time: 34:10 (CD)
·         Tracks 14 & 15 are CD-exclusive bonus cover versions (of S.O.D. and Nerve, respectively).

Putrid Offal is

Frédéric Houriez - bass (M.Pheral)
Franck Peiffer - guitars and vocals (M.Pheral)
Phil Reinhalter- guitars (Division Alpha)
Laye Louhenapessy - Drums (Dehuman, Vibrion)


Review:

What happens when a band takes an extended hiatus (19-20 years, give or take) from making goregrind/death metal and then return with re-recordings of their early nineties material? A pretty brutal record happens, apparently.

I'm going to state this right away. The drums appear programmed. I don't care. They do exactly what they need to do to support the relentless riffs and grooves that pound through this record. I say do what you need to do to get what you hear in your head out there.

Everything on these re-recordings sound intense and present with some obvious benefits of modern recording techniques and the drums enhance the fact that the guitar and bass are really tight. There is a dark, minor key ambiance that permeates throughout with vocals that get so guttural I'm pretty sure you can hear shit gurgling at the bottom guitarist/vocalist  Frank Peiffer's guts at the end of ‘Garroting Away’. There are some truly disturbing human sounds throughout this record. That track also features some creepy-as-hell ambient synth-like sounds that appear a little unexpectedly and to good effect. A similar orchestration appears in ‘From Plasma to Embalming’.

There are a few lead guitar moments that lend themselves similarly to the synth-ish parts with a focus more on which notes that add to the tension of the riff, as opposed to how many notes can be played in a few bars of music. There are LOTS of great blasts and digusting, atonal slashing on the strings consistent with grind and death metal. Then there are spots like the intro to ‘Repulsive Corpse’,  which features a mid-tempo, slamming groove and later in the same track where the band gets almost a little sludgy with an actual guitar solo, that while relaxing in tempo, don't let off on the overwhelming sense of dread the band is creating. Of course we also get some great build-ups and stops and a few distorted bass breaks for good measure, like the intro to ‘Birth Remains’.

The band has a drummer performing with them live and has several festival dates lined-up starting this month through the end of the year. I imagine these veterans can slay a stage and who knows if they'll be at it again anytime soon.

I would have never guessed that some of these songs were originally written when I was 7.

Words by: Ian Smedbron

‘Mature Necropsy’ is available here



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