Morpheus Descends - Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones [1994] (EP)

The old New York death metal scene was a glorious place during its heyday. There has been a manifestation of indulgent, cadaverous acts, the most prominent ones being Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, which obviously influences the majority of the metal bands that resided there.  Morpheus Descends is one of the more underground bands to emerge from the filth-laden streets of New York, and their debut album ‘’Ritual Of Infinity’’ is an ever praised underground classic that churns together a bulk of brutal aesthetics and sinister rituals in one place, forming a delicious OSDM feast. The band lived on for some time, relatively longer than other acts which could not withstand the furious winds of change, but in the end they too joined the ashes and dust, only to reappear on the internet. The repute held by about band is simple; an opinion held by the almost the entire underground stating that their debut is their most golden moment. I, for one must agree that it’s a golden release, but not the uttermost golden.

Two years after the exhalation of ‘’Ritual Of Infinity’’, Morpheus Descends bestirs yet another force to unleash, one that has been shamefully overlooked. ‘’Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones’’ is an EP, released without the aid of any label, yet in spite of being a low budget release, it stands as a better record than the lauded debut. On ‘’Chronicles…’’, Morpheus Descends undeniably leans towards a more cathartic edge, producing a bombastic death/doom mutation of shadowy brute force and despondent, subterranean intellect.  Espousing themselves deeply in a horror concept, the band’s esoteric knowledge excludes the overt brutality present on the first record and transforms it onto a mournful array of melancholic death/doom obelisks, taking on a sinister, dabbling hue to environ the listener in dark, ethereal wroth.

The cravings that Morpheus Descends gouges are still somewhat similar to the aesthetics of the debut album, but the scrofulous chthonic emission on ‘’Chronicles…’’ reeks of misanthropy everywhere it goes. The dynamic, muscular rhythm sequences have all of a sudden been turned into crushing monstrous death/doom exercises, the tremolo-laced patterns are now sweltering with dread and constant horror, and in addition, the vocals are murkier and cavernous, suiting the drudgy trudging of the riffs more. I must confide, however, that even with the additional gnawing aspects of the raw production the EP does is not as evil as some other acts with were dominant over the dark arts such as Infester, but with so much primacy running through veins of punishment, it’s only natural that the band invigorates the static, brawny elements in order to attain a dose of brutality that was highly present on the debut.

With some much ponderous grooving going on, the songs rang at a minimum of five minutes, fuelling numbing pain as the sludgy excursions ooze from their decrepit caves and emerge. The EP is rather lengthy to be an EP, ranging at thirty-two minutes, but I suppose it was never written in the cards for ‘’Chronicles…’’ to reach a higher peak. ‘’Chronicles…’’ also has a very dynamic display of drum fills, my absolute favourite performance on the whole album. Instead of plodding on at an elephant’s face alongside the riffs, the drummer often leaps for dexterous fills and jumps from one queer beat to another, and during faster sections you’ll feel it blasting vigorously. ‘’Chronicles Of The Shadowed Ones’’ is a death/doom masterpiece, a stench laden incursion of muscular spasms and monotonous blasts, its horrid ritual ending with the agonized, lycanthropic howls of the bleak nine minute ‘’Moupho Alde Ferenc Yaborov (In the Land of the Vampire Ferenczy)’’, an ghastly, inhuman hymn.  The debut is a classic death metal monstrosity, but this EP belongs up there with the masters of harrowing monotony, amongst Winter, Incantation and dISEMBOWELMENT.

Highlights:

''The Cruciform Hills''

''Cairn Of Dimitru''

''Sings Of Gehenna''

Final Rating:

[9.0/10] Masterpiece

Ancient - Svartalvheim [1994]

Despite the fact that Norway is one of (if not the) most prolific countries, in terms of black metal output, I have never been very fond of a vast majority of the bands. Aside from the giants of the scene (Immortal, Mayhem, and Darkthrone), I've never been able to listen to the "grvm" stuff from that country because it bored the shit out of me. But, you've got to dig around and find some stuff, because there is some quality in that cesspool of a scene. One such album that has been a nice find is Ancient's debut full-length "Svartalvheim." While the band would later go on to turn into another shitty band, this record has some substance to it that's worth a listen. 

What really impressed me with the sound of Ancient was their ability to conjure up riffs and melodies that were entirely reminiscent of phenomenal bands such as Bathory and Dissection. After the intro is the track "Trumps of an Archangel" which is an awesome song. Plenty of Bathory worship in the riffs, with the occasional melodic moments, some nasty vocals, and plenty of vile. Seriously, this track is some great, disgusting old-school black metal and had the entire album consisted of material like this track, it would have been amazing. "Huldradans" is a cool track that's definitely more in vein of Dissection (Acoustics and all!), as there's plenty of melody in the riff throughout. "The Call of the Absu Deep" is a much more doomy track that should get anyone's headbanging. Unfortunately, the music aside from these tracks is plagued with mediocrity and terrible songwriting. 

"Det Glemte Riket" would have been a promising song, but too many random inclusions of acoustic sections kind of killed the song a bit. It would be one thing if the acoustic sections added some kind of dark sound or killer solo, but they were just randomly placed acoustic parts that didn't fit the song at all. This happens in "Paa Evig Vandring" as well, and "Ved Trolltjern" is an acoustic song throughout with some echoed vocals, nothing more. At the end of "Svartalvheim," though, the good outweighs the bad and keeps Ancient's debut from being another awful album in the Norway scene and I would definitely recommend it to fans of Bathory, Dissection, Immortal, etc. 

Highlights

"Trumps of an Archangel"

"Huldradans"

"The Call of the Absu Deep"

Final Rating

Awesome [8/10]

Nidhoggr - Ravens Over The Road Of The Kings [1994] (Demo)

My sheer love for the grotesqueries that come out of Finland cannot be questioned. Yes, I’m talking about the Finnish death metal scene, a plentiful pile of rot and macabre decay, putrid and abominable in every way. But besides the death metal scene in Finland to emerge in the 90’s, there’s also a cult underground black metal scene, quite extensive yes, but still dwarfed by the captivating copiousness of the death metal scene. There were a few bands that the black metal underground respected and knew, but Nidhoggr is just not one of those exulted bands. Listening to their 1994 demo ‘’Ravens Over The Road Of Kings’’ is like Burzum gnawing against your ears with stark strictness, and amongst so many false imitators, finally comes a band who knows how to worship.

Yes, a Burzum scent reeks heavily in every riff, every break, every turn and twist; in every aspect. ‘’Ravens’’ is a relatively short demo, consisting of only three songs, but once you enter its frigid cold atmosphere it’s not easy to get out as you’re always in the grip of grim, sombre winter, absolutely blood chilling and glacial. The instrumentation is sheer brilliance I tell you. Brilliance. The riffs are set on a damp, jagged texture and flow with craggy, angular turns, and the production is exceedingly raw and diminishing, so the tremolo pickings will always be reduced in vivacity and fullness, and you’ll need to crank the volume up if you want to properly hear this one. Atmospheric traits are just as favoured as the dreary elements of the music. Every riff is harsh, abrupt attack, but at the same time, it provokes an epic sense, which is always a pleasant thing to hear in your black metal.

Even the vocals, sonically intense and gelid screams and harsh rasps remind me of Burzum, and these rasps are so cold and haunting that I can say that they’re even better than Varg’s vocals performance, even though they seldom tend to appear. ‘’Thou Shalt Burn At Our Stacker’’ carves a deep hole into the listener’s ear from the start, giving of a great impact of cold, grim melancholy and other raw aspects of the demo, and ‘’From The Forest Come The Wanderer’’ begins its six minute journey with brief little melody spectrum, flashing into an crude, cavernous tremolo attack afterwards. The concluding track finalizes the demo with a queer plethora of melodies and turns cutting and splashing onto each other with cantankerous complexity and cunning. I have no doubt that any Norwegian black metal fan will find this entertaining (though in a eerie way), and Burzum fans especially will salivate over this.

Highlights

''Thou Shalt Burn At Our Stacker''

''From The Forest Come The Wanderer''

Final Rating

Awesome [8.8/10] 

Nifelheim - Nifelheim [1994]

Although Nifelheim's self titled debut album was released during the time when the second wave of black metal was just getting popular, it follows the exact trail that early black/thrash savages like Hellhammer, Bathory or Venom created. There were some pioneering black/death acts which emerged during the early-mid 90's as well, such Swedish blasphemers Necrophobic or Finland's darkened black/death assault Belial, but Nifelheim produced over-the-top, completely flurried black/thrash that doesn't fail to butcher carcasses. And in addition to the extremity and sheer speed of their music, Nifelheim has to be one of the first bands to correlate satanic themes with traditional metal anthems lyric wise, and even though their music evil and frantic, cheesy black/thrash/speed moments can not be avoided. Not that I'm complaining about these so called ''cheesy'' riffs, really.

The main material that enhances the speed, the aggression and all things evil is that Nifelheim (as stated) take their influences from the early black metal scene rather than the second scene which is a much atmospheric affair by all standards. Hints of cloudy atmosphere here and there may be present, and there's a resonant production quality too, but otherwise the whole of the album is a fluent burst of militant black/thrash, seldom tending to slow down or show any sign of deterioration. The production is thin and metallic just as the guitar tone, so you won't be provided with a whole lot of chunky, carnal riffs, but the disastrous tremolo pickings and chord strums are as sharp as newly-forged blade, so you've been warned--don't mess with this one. I also tend to enjoy the flickering array of dismal melodies, thrown into the crazed riffing at a common basis, and the somewhat sophisticated feel of the riffs, keeping the dynamics at a high level for a good near-thirty-minutes. Tracks like ''Possessed By Evil'' embrace the classic black/thrash/speed attitude with scratchy, tremolo and chord attacks while the bombastic goodness frenzy on Sodomizer is out of control and the supreme combination of atmosphere and semi-technical riffs on ''Storm Of Satan's Fire'' is another treat entirely.

Yes, the album is no longer than ''Reign In Blood'', then again, it's similar to the aggressive magnum opus in many ways, but surprisingly, Nifelheim has managed to keep the energy constant and volatile throughout, and a substantial amount of variation is offered with the gritty, grinding edge of the fuzzy riffs, only be enhanced with primal art of blast beating and the crusty barks of Per ''Hellbutcher'' Gustavsson. Everything is  irritating, in the right manner that is, and the primitive attitude or early black metal and early thrash metal is preserved throughout every single track, with a tiny dash of atmosphere, hidden under the riffs. Next time, when you're going through your classic black/thrash pieces and while channeling between Usurper, Desaster, Destroyer 666, early Sodom and Kreator, and Aura Noir, don't forget to remind yourself of the masterful bestiality of ''Nifelheim''.

Highlights
''Black Curse''
''Storm Of Satan's Fire''
''Possessed By Evil''

Final Rating
Awesome [8.7/10]

Sadistik Exekution – We Are Death… Fukk You! [1994]

“FUKKIN’ KAOS!!!” is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Australian death metal lunatics Sadistik Exekution. These Sydney mad men crafted some of the most chaotic, sick and disgusting sounding death metal ever played. It was loud, evil, abrasive, blackened and spastically chaotic. “We Are Death… Fukk You!” is the second full length, which came out in 1994.

SadEx were ahead of their time; utilizing the psychotic screams and shouts of vocalist Rok, to Rev. Kriss Hades’ insane guitar work, Dave Slaves’ mental bass lines and the ultra fast drumming, the band combines elements of death metal with black metal, grind and a few rare doom parts (see “Evoke War Vomit” for example) to produce some of the most intense and shockingly awesome music you will ever hear. 

Every song on “We Are Death…” is an absolute ripper, although some may be held back from their true potential by the production, which jumps around on each song, as this album was originally recorded as an EP but released as a full length with a few singles/demos/etc. chucked on to make up the extra time. The production issue, however, is the only real negative thing I have to say about “We Are Death…” and pointing out anything else would just be nitpicking, which doesn’t work when analyzing an album so chaotic and intense. I’ve chosen not to ramble on too much while writing this review because once you listen to the album, it speaks for itself with its’ straightforward approach.

Highlights:

Internal Klok

Electrokution

Evoke War Vomit

Final Rating:

Awesome 8/10

Hetsheads - We Hail The Possessed... [1994]

First off, let me make this lucid. This album, is not an album by any means. It's a demo compilation featuring the bands 1991 demo ''Remonstrating The Preserver'' and a few additional songs. And as far as the bands discography goes, it would be correct to say that it's genuinely short, as it consists of that demo and this compilation. However, one shouldn't be fooled by a band's short lifespan because Hetsheads can conjure the perfect old school Swedeath sound in the simplest way, with no technical nonsense, no other influences whatsoever, just plain, thrashy, chainsaw ripping Swedeath of the most primal kind. Their style is probably nothing that an average death metaller has never heard of, but the sheer brilliance of the dark, cryptic and embalming atmosphere, diversely consuming and engulfing the crushing riffs is one treat no death metal fan should do without.

Their sound is very akin the most primitive kind of Swedish death metal, a sound that resembles early Entombed/Nihilist, Dismember, Grave and other usual suspects, although it would be wrong to say they copy the exact sound. There's plenty of filthy grooving and hardcore-tinged moments of pure death/thrashing mayhem, and also some murky death/doom sequences where you'll find the atmosphere to reach its uttermost peak, and you'll feel the massive oppressive ponderousness thumping against your skullcap. The distorted, crunchy chainsaw guitar tone is there as it has always been, and the band excels in using it to drive the furious chord-driven riffs towards a malicious edge. ''Paganization'' is one good example of the band's murky, horror-laden sound, churning together distorted tremolo bursts with simple Bolt Thrower-esque grooves and doomy grinders. There are some nice acoustic interludes included in some of the more mellow tracks like ''For His Sake'' or the horrific intro instrumental, but sections like that are limited as the album mainly focuses on brutal, unpolished death metal.

I can't really say much more about Hetsheads' stylings, because its pretty limited, though the single, focused beam of precise old school brilliance is enough persuade any old schooler into listening to this. I was so obsessed with the current Swedish death metal trends that I instantly forgot about what was laid right in front of me; the archaic ancestors of all these bands, the real originators, who excelled in creating the grotesque and the macabre. Hetsheads is by no means an originator or a band which which put a milestone for death metal, but they did take that muddy, filthy sound and display it almost perfectly, without straying from that pure path. Simply put it this way; if you're starting to get into old school Swedeath, ''We Hail The Possessed'' demo compilation is just as good of a place to start as those fiendish masterpieces everyone seems to be so eager to worship.

Highlights
Dissolution By Catatonia
Remonstrating The Preserver
When The Time Has Come


Final Rating
Awesome [8.4/10]

Infester - To The Depths...In Degradation [1994]

Greeting, old schoolers, this is Arthalos from Lacerated Reviews. I'm honoured to be in such a great webzine and I hope to be of some use in terms of improving the site. However, let's face the facts. Nightmare Reality is a great webzine with reviews for numerous old shcool metal albums, but it doesen't have enough reviews. I am by no means going to improve the site rapidly but even the smallest of participations is a great honour for me...

The American scene of OSDM had a vast range of underground bands that played digusting, abominable death metal. Especially the New York scene specialised in making ultimately filthy death metal. Some bands, which I come across only at seldom, sink even lower than these bands in order to create the ultimate filthy death metal sound. Very few bands have really perfected this style, but when the sadisctic and tormenting sound is exposed, the listener will be utterly devastated by the tremendously dark and evil vibe. Infester, by far, has to be one of the prime death metal bands in this compressed sub-genre of death metal. Their sound is filthy and incredibly distorted, but it is also crushingly heavy and doomy.

"To The Dephts...In Degradation" in an incredible effort, displaying ghastly and heavyweight riffs aswel a blackened atmosphere. The album title describes the music perfectly, and the grotesque and macabre imagery shown in the cover art is mosntrously sadistic. The music is so dense and corrupted that people who enjoy Lovecraft but dislike metal in general could easily attain what they would want from this. The first vibe that one may get from the album is probably a rather straightforward but murky death metal vibe, though little do they know that the album explores through much dense and ghastly elements throughout its fifty minute journey. In such a chaotic record, it would be obviously hard to notice clear influences an styles present in the riffs at first, but one can get used to the record in time. The general aspects of the riffs are indulging death/thrash assaults and rich tremolo bursts with a ton of black metal influence going on. Believe it or not, anyone into Blasphemy, Bestial Warlust or Archgoat can be quite content with what they will hear on this album. The death metal riffs have been manupulated continously and the resultant is a repulsively hideous tone and inundating riffs, perpetually striking the listener, thus taking him/her into a journey full of torture and beyond comprehension.

Of course one should also notice the amazing musicianship displayed in the riffs, buried deep within an concrete substance of horror. The riffs are actually quite technical and are perfectly arranged and composed. The technicalty is quite obviously nothing like the furiously instrument-bashing, note-smashing tech death retards that play today. These are quality riffs, composed with great care and yet still being able to be oppressive and dark like the rest of the album. And despite being so pondorously drowsy sounding, the guitars and drums synchronize perfectly, putting a lot of effort into the quality and sordidness of the riffs, aswel as their level in dynamics. The keyboards are used perfectly on this album. Never have I seen a band that created such a dark atmosphere and accompanying it with horrendous keyboards for additional aura and aspect. Speaking of aspects, there are great highlights on this album that are just as crucial as the riffs and atmosphere. The vocals, which channel frequently between lower gutturals and hellish screams and barks, not dissimilar to Glen Benton's vocal work. Intense drumming which sounds rather weak but at the same time showing technique and precise percussion and most importantly being able to determine the speed of the album almost directly.

The album is no less a classic than ''Fallen Angel of Doom'' or ''Onward To Golgotha'' in its ways of monstrous filthiness and tiring and oppressiveness. It immerses the listener in an incredibly dense and chaotic atmosphere and thus sadisticly torturing him/her. "To The Depths...In Degradation" is the perfect musical equivalent of one of Lovercrafts blood-curdling and spine chilling tales. Not only is this an OSDM classic, but it is also the ghastliest reflection of a human being's nightmare, represented in the most grotesque and agonizing way possible.


Highlights
''A Higher Art Of Immutable Beauty''
''To The Depths(In Degradation)''
''Chamber Of Reunion''
''Epicurian Entrails''

Rating
Masterpiece [9.3/10]

Bestial Warlust - Vengeance War Till Death [1994]

Aside from a few bands, Norway's black metal scene was and is utter shite which is something that the guys up north in Canada knew. Of course I'm speaking of the guys in Blasphemy who created the bestial masterpiece "Fallen Angel of Doom" which would spawn a slew of great bands (and a whole lot of craptacular bands as well) that emulated the band's more relentless black metal sound. Arguably the best band to follow Blasphemy and their vile sound would come from down under (Who would've thunk it?) in the form of Bestial Warlust, with the cheesy and hilarious stage names and everything. After releasing some demos under the moniker of Corpse Molestation, it was time to set fire to the extreme metal underground with their debut record "Vengeance War Till Death" which is quite possibly the greatest metal export from Australia and has easily one of the best album covers ever. 

If you've heard "Fallen Angel of Doom" then you should know exactly what to expect on "Vengeance War Till Death," and the band wastes no time in letting the listener know what kind of filthy and spastic music is about to be unleashed as they open the album with the track "Bestial Warlust." A song that starts with some fast and random drumming accompanied by Bloodstorm's exclamation of "Bestial Warlust!" before erupting into an all-out assault upon the listener and their brain which is sure to be turned to mush once the record is over. The next song "Dweller of the Bottomless Pit" isn't much different than the first track and it almost reinforces that terrible stereotype that all war metal sounds exactly the same, but the next track "Satanic" is black metal in its finest form. This song is evil, heavy and entirely devastating as it starts off with some heavy powerchords accompanied by a tolling bell to further that dark and murky atmosphere. 

One of the most common complaints that I've encountered when seeing discussions of this album is the drumming, which I immediately laugh at. The drumming here isn't extremely precise or even varied much, but there is no denying that the intensity from the kit throughout these seven songs from hell is such a vital part to the music. The riffs only come in two different varieties for the most part, they're either bursts of tremolo riffing like on the song "Storming Vengeance" which seems to be nothing but fast tremolo picking or they come in the heavier, midpaced variety, though they're not too slow thanks to Hellcunt's insane drumming. "Vengeance War Till Death" is definitely one of those records where you'll either love it or hate it as most of the tracks are similar in sound and leave pretty much the same impression. Whether or not that impression is a positive or negative one, doesn't matter because at the end of the day Bestial Warlust and their answer to Blasphemy with this album will continue to be one that is coveted by the metal underground for years to come. 

Highlights

"Satanic"

"Heathens"

"Storming Vengeance"

Final Rating

Masterpiece [9.0/10]

Mangled Torsos - Drawings of the Dead [1994]

Let me just start off this review by stating that this record is some weird death metal. No, that's probably an understatement, seriously this is some abstract music, yet I like it. It's not weird in an overly technical kind of way, though these Germans definitely know how to play their instruments, but in just the way they structure their music, as well as random little nuances that appear throughout. The general weird atmosphere on "Drawings of the Dead" is probably a good selling point for these guys, as they are unique, but it also serves as a hindrance on this record (More on that later). 

First off, the vocals on here are something that immediately jump out at the listener. On the first track of this record, "Unsuspecting Sacrifice," the listener is treated with some dark melodies that loom over some heavy chords, but you can't help notice the growls that are also being spewed out of the singer's mouth as they don't really add anything to the already bleak intro, they're just there. The twin vocal assault on this album is ever so present, as one of them (I'm not sure which) sounds a lot like Chris Barnes. The growls are plenty heavy, but at the same time they're rather coherent and understandable, while the other singer sounds more like his fellow countrymen who use their guttural vocals more so for thrash, but the same effect is present here and it sounds great. 

The riffs on this album mainly gravitate towards the midpaced side of things and they're usually pretty doomy as well. The doomy riff that kicks off the title track is quite good and transitions into the fantastic riff right after flawlessly. The songs "Dereanged Body Love" and "Malignant Tumor" also have some stellar riffs that should have no problem in getting your headbanging in the midst of the doomy interludes and dark atmosphere. One reason for this atmosphere is because of the melodies that can be found throughout "Drawings of the Dead." The track "Dissemble" does a fine job of raising the hair on the back of your neck with its chilling melodies that slither along underneath the ridiculously heavy vocals. 

Now remember the beginning of this review when I said that this album is, for lack of a better word, weird? Yeah, it is. It isn't just the switch between the Barnes like vocals and the guttural attack from the other vocalist, that isn't really uncommon, but it's mainly from the odd structures among other things. Other things like the use of acoustic guitars in the middle of the songs. This alone isn't weird, just not very ordinary for death metal bands but Mangled Torsos manages to mix their softer side particularly well to add to the overall feel of the music, especially on the song "Lost Emotions." While the acoustic guitar isn't completely alone, it's backed by the heavy chords and fronted by the heavier vocals, but it works out. However, it didn't really work on the title track. After being treated with some top notch riffs, the song turns into a showcase for the acoustic guitar as it plays on its own for quite a while and dominates the song for the most part. Luckily, it returns to the high level it was at earlier, but one has to wonder just how great this song would have been if the acoustic section was shortened or even taken out completely. Another odd moment on "Drawings of the Dead" was the track "Morphea." It starts off with a great riff and just when you think it's going to pick up, the riff is still there and the vocalist is growling like a rabid wolf. The same riff carries on for two minutes and nothing changes, which is sad because the riff is damned good. 

In the end, Mangled Torsos delivered an album that not only stands out, but manages to retain a sense of ingenuity that ensures "Drawings of the Dead" is the kind of album that strikes you as abnormal at first and one that could have been better, but also shows promise that it will grow on you and become a record that often appears in your rotation. 

Highlights

"Drawings of the Dead"

"Deranged Body Love"

"Malignant Tumor"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.2/10] 

Gutted - Bleed for Us to Live [1994]

 

Gutted are probably one of the more underrated American death metal bands. Who the hell is Gutted? Well, they're a death metal band from Ohio that was formed in 1992 by three brothers. Their debut album, "Bleed for Us to Live" was released in 1994 and it's one of the best death metal albums to come from the USA, in my opinion. Up there with albums like Deicide's "Legion" and Autopsy's "Mental Funeral" which are both top quality classics, as we are all aware (I hope, or shame on you). This is some of the best headbang your fucking pants off death metal.

The album starts off with the sounds of rain which is followed by a slow, evil keyboard intro on the song "Bleed" which then goes into an extremely heavy, death metal assault. The use of keyboards on this album creates an extreme feeling of that evil attitude they want to give off. These guys mean business. They're here to play death metal the way it was meant to be played; evil, mid-paced and heavier than a two tonne hammer coming directly down on the middle of your skull. 

The guitars have that ripping death metal tone that you'd find in most American death metal and the bass is actually really audible on the album. I really enjoy the bass on this album because it gallops along with the music at that steady mid-pace that is pretty consistent throughout the album except for a few spots here and there in each song where everything speeds up and pulverizes you from the inside out. The drums on the album are really nice too because it's not just blast beats everywhere. There's actually not too much use of the blast beat technique seen very much on this album, which is a little unfortunate. Lots of variety in the drumming though on the album, which I also really appreciate. And the double bass on the album just obliterates everything because it's audible for one thing and it's incredibly hammering.

Gutted are the perfect example of what you are all missing out on. Heavy, pulverizing death metal with great atmosphere and evilness to it. If you're a fan of American death metal, this album is just for you. I suggest you track this album down and add it to your collection, immediately.

Highlights

"Bleed"

"Cold In the Coffin"

"Death Before Dismember"

Final Rating

Awesome [8.5/10]