UMUR
"Killing On Adrenaline" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Maryland based death metal act Dying Fetus. The album was released through Morbid Records in July 1998. Dying Fetus formed in 1991 and released two demos (compiled on the "Infatuation with Malevolence (1995)" compilation), before releasing their debut full-length studio album "Purification Through Violence (1996)". There has been one lineup change since the release of the debut album as drummer Rob Belton has been replaced by Kevin Talley.
Stylistically the material on "Killing On Adrenaline" pretty much continues the brutal and technically well played death metal style of "Purification Through Violence (1996)". It´s brutal death metal with both blasting deathgrind parts, mid-paced brutal grooves, and ultra brutal groovy breakdowns spiced up with the occasional lightning fast guitar sweeps. The two vocalists compliment each other well with John Gallagher delivering deep processed unintelligible growling and Jason Netherton delivering slightly more intelligible growling with an added aggressive edge.
The material on the 8 track, 34:31 minutes long album is well written and pretty memorable for the style. It´s not easily accessible music, but once you´ve gotten used to the crushingly brutal assault on the ears, hooks begin to appear in the form of recognisable riffs and rhythms and the occasional catchy vocal phrase. Don´t expect to hear anything even resembling a melody here though. This is a brutal punishing listen from start to finish. To my ears all tracks on the album stand out as high quality material, and therefore it doesn´t make much sense mentioning specific tracks over others. Just know that regardless of which track you chose to listen to you´re in for a face meltingly brutal listening experience, that´s definitely not for the faint at heart.
"Killing On Adrenaline" features a powerful, detailed, and brutal sounding production. The snare drum has a bit of an odd sound to it, but it actually suits the music well. So upon conclusion it´s an album featuring a powerful sounding production, memorable songwriting (for the style), and high level musicianship too (this is technically demanding music). Brutal death metal can at times be a one-dimensional affair, where one track flows into the next without the listener even noticing, but that´s not the case with "Killing On Adrenaline", which is one of the gems of the genre, and that´s mostly due to the consistency of the songwriting and Dying Fetus ability to incorporate memorable elements to even the most fiercely brutal music on the scene. When you add to that strong musicianship and a well sounding production, you´ve got a winner. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.