To my surprise this Austrian band had always been fairly overlooked, although I see no reason why. They had a balanced attack of grind, sludge and death metal, often repetitive but on the whole quite groovy and interesting. The only band I could really compare them to would be their Austrian fellows in Pungent Stench, but in all the two don't really sound alike. There are 24 tracks present here, of varying lengths. Unusual song titles like "Quintessentially Unnecessary Institution" and "The Unequalled Visual Response Mechanism" bred way to even more bizarre and interesting lyrics, but at the same time quite introspective (a trait which would follow this band through to their later works). Sound-wise the production here is nothing special, almost with a live feel to it. The guitar riffs incorporate much sludge and doom influence, but transform this into a plodding death metal resonance that gives way to faster, more typical death riffs of the time period. As a piece of dirty, growling early death metal, this album accomplishes what it sets out to do, and considering the thought-provoking lyrics, it definitely holds my interest. I love this.

© 2000 pizarro