Internal Bleeding
Voracious Contempt
[Pavement]
Internal Bleeding's Voracious Contempt is one amazing album. For you
to know why, the past must be addressed. Back in 1995, when I was first
stumbling upon the underground, I read an interview with the band Internal
Bleeding in Plethora of Sound Fanzine. The guitarist, Chris Pervelis,
answered the questions and he turned out to be a huge supporter of the
underground scene and generally seemed to be a hard-working guy. Needless
to say, when he mentioned that Internal Bleeding's debut CD entitled
Voracious Contempt was due out later that year, buying that album was
top priority for me at the time.
So when it was finally released, I bought it and listened to it a couple times. At the time, I thought the sound was just terrible! The guitars sounded like a bunch of bees, droning generically in that New York death metal vein. The drums sounded too high in the mix. The vocals, the typical low generic growl, sounded too low in the mix as well. The lacking production made the riffs hard to discern. However, even then, I was indeed able to discern some riffs, mostly the catchy "groove" rhythms I so detested at the time. After making a dub and then trading away the CD, I didn't listen to the album for over a year. Then I occasionally played it just because it was something I hadn't listened to in a long time. In this time, some tape trades were conducted and I received dubs of both of Internal Bleeding's demos and a live show from New York that I actually enjoyed, mostly since they didn't suffer in sound quality as severely as Voracious Contempt. It is obvious from these recordings that the band has talent, they just have bad luck in the studio. For some reason, I never really considered that these releases were from the same band that I heard on Voracious Contempt.
Now, after listening to and liking their third release, I decided to give Voracious Contempt another chance, especially since it dawned on me what an impressive drummer Bill Tolley is. Listening to Voracious Contempt very, very stoned and then sober, back to back, I realized what an excellently heavy, brutal record this is.
Opening with a short keyboard introduction, "Languish in Despair" begins. Even at this younger stage in the band's existence, there is still a good amount of technicality in their music (which advanced on Driven to Conquer). "Gutted Human Sacrifice" shows the band's true death metal roots with tasty traditional gore lyrics. The song's title alone is enough to make it a favorite. "Inhuman Suffering"--re-recorded and retitled "Inhuman 99" on the 'Destined to Conquer' album--displays Bill Tolley's proficient drumming, with tasteful use of limited blast and double-bass, resulting in an enticing mix of early '90s old school death metal and the newer (at the time) mid-'90s New York death metal style (commonly referred to as the American style of death metal). The guitars, while they do suffer from bogus knob-twiddling, are truly HEAVY, making this an album to blast in your stereo. Surely, most surface-dwellers would find this particular music utterly repulsive with it's razor guitars and guttural vomit vocals. "Despoilment of Rotting Flesh", sporting a delightfully scrumptious title and being basically no different from the other nine songs, is note-worthy for the fact that the song contains the most memorable groove riff on the entire album, making for an excellent closing track.
Before hearing Driven to Conquer and giving Internal Bleeding's debut another listen, I thought this band was a waste of money that could be spent on something far better. Doubtless there were others with similar negative opinions. I often wish the band would re-record the album's guitar tracks and remix the entire thing. Of course, that would cost a lot of money and the band's label, Pavement Records, would be skeptical of releasing a re-recorded version of an album that was not received very positively and likely wouldn't sell well. Oh, well, for now I'm happy with the band's new version of "Inhuman Suffering" on Driven to Conquer and wish them the best for being such a hard-working, talented group. While my mind is still out to lunch on whether my opinion of their second record, The Extinction of Benevolence, I will certainly be giving it another chance soon. I have no doubt that The Extinction of Benevolence will be a pleasured listening once I find my dub again. To all who harbored my prior opinion of Voracious Contempt, please, give this awesome record another chance and listen to Driven to Conquer many times, both preferably while stoned if you so indulge, so as to get the full spectrum of the band's talent.
© 1999 goden
So when it was finally released, I bought it and listened to it a couple times. At the time, I thought the sound was just terrible! The guitars sounded like a bunch of bees, droning generically in that New York death metal vein. The drums sounded too high in the mix. The vocals, the typical low generic growl, sounded too low in the mix as well. The lacking production made the riffs hard to discern. However, even then, I was indeed able to discern some riffs, mostly the catchy "groove" rhythms I so detested at the time. After making a dub and then trading away the CD, I didn't listen to the album for over a year. Then I occasionally played it just because it was something I hadn't listened to in a long time. In this time, some tape trades were conducted and I received dubs of both of Internal Bleeding's demos and a live show from New York that I actually enjoyed, mostly since they didn't suffer in sound quality as severely as Voracious Contempt. It is obvious from these recordings that the band has talent, they just have bad luck in the studio. For some reason, I never really considered that these releases were from the same band that I heard on Voracious Contempt.
Now, after listening to and liking their third release, I decided to give Voracious Contempt another chance, especially since it dawned on me what an impressive drummer Bill Tolley is. Listening to Voracious Contempt very, very stoned and then sober, back to back, I realized what an excellently heavy, brutal record this is.
Opening with a short keyboard introduction, "Languish in Despair" begins. Even at this younger stage in the band's existence, there is still a good amount of technicality in their music (which advanced on Driven to Conquer). "Gutted Human Sacrifice" shows the band's true death metal roots with tasty traditional gore lyrics. The song's title alone is enough to make it a favorite. "Inhuman Suffering"--re-recorded and retitled "Inhuman 99" on the 'Destined to Conquer' album--displays Bill Tolley's proficient drumming, with tasteful use of limited blast and double-bass, resulting in an enticing mix of early '90s old school death metal and the newer (at the time) mid-'90s New York death metal style (commonly referred to as the American style of death metal). The guitars, while they do suffer from bogus knob-twiddling, are truly HEAVY, making this an album to blast in your stereo. Surely, most surface-dwellers would find this particular music utterly repulsive with it's razor guitars and guttural vomit vocals. "Despoilment of Rotting Flesh", sporting a delightfully scrumptious title and being basically no different from the other nine songs, is note-worthy for the fact that the song contains the most memorable groove riff on the entire album, making for an excellent closing track.
Before hearing Driven to Conquer and giving Internal Bleeding's debut another listen, I thought this band was a waste of money that could be spent on something far better. Doubtless there were others with similar negative opinions. I often wish the band would re-record the album's guitar tracks and remix the entire thing. Of course, that would cost a lot of money and the band's label, Pavement Records, would be skeptical of releasing a re-recorded version of an album that was not received very positively and likely wouldn't sell well. Oh, well, for now I'm happy with the band's new version of "Inhuman Suffering" on Driven to Conquer and wish them the best for being such a hard-working, talented group. While my mind is still out to lunch on whether my opinion of their second record, The Extinction of Benevolence, I will certainly be giving it another chance soon. I have no doubt that The Extinction of Benevolence will be a pleasured listening once I find my dub again. To all who harbored my prior opinion of Voracious Contempt, please, give this awesome record another chance and listen to Driven to Conquer many times, both preferably while stoned if you so indulge, so as to get the full spectrum of the band's talent.
© 1999 goden