Yearning For The Grotesque
(Avantgarde Music)
49:39min
Well, Dave from AVULSED didn’t feel quite happy with my ‘Yearning For The Grotesque’ review. Not because it wasn’t positive enough, he wanted more details and he even thought I didn’t give the album a thorough listen. I won’t tell you my first thoughts when I read his lines as minors have access to Voices as well ; -) but then I thought about the affair and had to admit that to some extend he was right. I tend to write short texts but the truth is I was on my way to Oldenburg’s Metal Pub (or rather the Metal / Gothic Night at a pub over here) and I was late. So in case you’re a musician and don’t like the review I gave your latest CD, don’t expect me to rewrite it: when I think it’s crap – that’s it! The next attack I’m trying to prevent is: “oh yeah, it’s for Dave Rotten, Voices doesn’t want to interfere with him”. Hey, I was in contact with him like 2 times via email… I’m more afraid of the guys from GOREZONE because of my EBOLA BEACH PARTY review: the guys are living just around the corner! So sorry for a mediocre review indeed. Won’t happen again I guess. Okay, now let the music do the talking: Shock therapy! The first track ‘Wormeaten’ starts with quite a blast and turns into a mid tempo groove monster that sometimes reminds you of MACHINE HEAD in their better days. A melodic solo makes this one even better. Talking about solos and melodies: exactly this category makes ‘Yearning For The Grotesque’ special: quite a few times I was reminded of one of my all time favourites, AMORPHIS’ ‘Tales From The Thousand Lakes’. This counts for track No. 2, a catchy up tempo banger a lot. Track 3, ‘Pale Red Blood’ starts with a somewhat oriental sounding acoustic theme being repeated and varied throughout the whole song several times the electric way and finally serves as the song’s outro as well. ‘Pale…’ really drags me along. ‘Sick Sick Sex’, the following number of the feast is strongly influenced by the trend of today, namely frognoise. Luckily, AVULSED manage to keep this one interesting with an orgasmic “chorus” that’s bound to make people raise their fists and shout along at gigs. Next one, ‘Daddy Stew’, presents even more facets of the new AVULSED: a thrashy edge and some rather melodic Swedeath influences (check out the guitar harmonies around the chorus!). I could be bragging on like this for the last 5 songs as well but I won’t: the high quality doesn’t decrease throughout the whole album (be impressed by the SLAYER influenced solo on ‘I Feel Good… Eating Human Flesh’)! The point is: even though all those references to other bands keep shining through constantly, the album leaves an impression of being a unit rather than patchwork. AVULSED are citing the greatest bands on earth (BLACK SABBATH on ‘Foetivorous Marriage’) but as old school Death Metal basically binds together the loose ends, the band made the necessary step of being more than copycats (I fuckin’ dig the solo on ‘Morbid Chef’ and that one doesn’t ring a bell for me). Technically, the band is on a high level and the vocals simply kill as they’re to the point and quite variable. The bottom line is: prepare for the old school Death Metal assault you’ve been waiting for! As long as you don’t despise melodies being integrated into shredding brutality in general, this one’s for you. The fact that my favourite tracks on here keep changing all the time prove the record’s quality, right now I love the doomy final track best, ‘Decrepit Sigh’. Reminds me a bit of AMORPHIS’ ‘Black Winter Day’. Quite a bit of blood, sweat and tears has been put into this album, so I guess now this review finally gives a bit of a taste. Check out the complete artwork at the band’s homepage! www.avulsed.com.
Ramon Claassen
Yearning For The Grotesque
(Avantgarde Music)
49:39min
Frank already informed me that AVULSED made a great step in the rigth direction and I can’t find anything wrong with this record at all: brutal as hell and absolutely tight, the band composed quite a few impressive songs that won’t catapult them to the olymp of Death Metal but with this CD everything seems to be possible! Check out my favourite ‘Pale Red Blood’ with that cool acoustic guitar intro! This piece of sickness won’t keep you on the sofa for sure! Take a look at the great artwork at the band’s homepage. www.avulsed.com.
Ramon Claassen
• AVULSED - Altar Of Disembowelment (Mirco Szymyslik)
• AVULSED - Carnivoracity (Michael Kujawska)
• AVULSED - Revenant Wars (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
• AVULSED - Bloodcovered (Frank Stöver)
• AVULSED - Ritual Zombi (Julián "Zompiro" Núñez)
• AVULSED - Reanimations (Ulrich Kreienbrink)