UMUR
"Destructive Reality" is the debut full-length studio album by Swiss death metal act Sickening Gore. The album was released through Massacre Records in December 1993. Sickening Gore formed in 1991 under the Reactor monicker, and released "The Tribunal Above" demo in 1991, but changed their name to Sickening Gore in 1992.
The material on "Destructive Reality" is old school death metal with quite a few heavy thrashy riffs (and screaming chromatic solos) to compliment the tremolo death metal riffs and general brutality of the music. The band are well playing and lead vocalist/guitarist Matt Burr has a decent growling delivery. The quality of the material is decent enough, but not many tracks stand out or are memorable beyond the album´s playing time (which is actually rather short at 29:41 minutes). Sickening Gore don´t really sound like any other contemporary death metal act I can think of, but that doesn´t mean their music is particularly unique sounding either.
"Destructive Reality" is not what I´d call an outstanding release but it´s not half bad either and some of the elements mentioned above are nice traits which bring something special to the music. I for example like how Sickening Gore incorporate thrash metal riffs in their brand of death metal and the many (and sometimes unexpected) solos. What is less great about the album (other than the fact that the material aren´t that memorable), is the sound production. Again it´s not terrible, but the guitar tone isn´t that pleasant on the ears, and the guitars are also placed a bit too low in the mix, which means the notes become blurry and the riffs lack power and conviction. The bass drums also feature a slightly odd tone. So it´s an album with both some good quality elements and a couple which drag my rating down. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.