AVULSED — Altar of Disembowelment (review)

AVULSED — Altar of Disembowelment album cover EP · 2015 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Altar of Disembowelment" is an EP release by Spanish death metal act Avulsed. The EP was released through Xtreem Music in September 2015. Avulsed was formed in 1991 by lead vocalist Dave Rotten and is widely considered one of the seminal death metal acts out of Spain. Dave Rotten´s status on the death metal scene is further emphasized by the fact that prolific Swedish musician Rogga Johansson has provided lyrics for the material on "Altar of Disembowelment" (Rogga Johansson and Dave Rotten also collaborate on the Putrevore death metal project), and equally prolific Swedish musician/producer Dan Swano has mastered the EP.

Stylistically the music on the 5 track, 22:46 minutes long EP is old school horror/gore themed death metal. The closing track is a cover of "Neon Knights" by Black Sabbath though. It´s performed in old school death metal style like the rest of the material. It´s a pretty good version where Avulsed successfully puts their own spin on the song. While the music is undoubtedly old school in style, the sound production is more contemporary clear sounding, but the music still sounds raw and authentic. There are more than a few nods towards late 80s/early 90s Carcass (take a songtitle like "Red Viscera Serology" as an example), but Avulsed is not a clone band by any means.

The vocals are completely unintelligible growling, which suits the music well but becomes a bit one-dimensional after a while. A bit more variation in that department would have provided the already relatively varied material with an ekstra positive diversity. One feature that brings diversity to the otherwise raw and old school sounding material is the occasional use of melodic lead guitar themes, which at times reminds me of early Amorphis (without further similarities).

The musicianship is solid and it´s obvious that these guys are seasoned professionals. So in many ways "Altar of Disembowelment" is a great release by Avulsed. I´m not sure the vocal style would have worked well for the duration of a full-length studio album, but in this format it actually works pretty well (keeping in mind the reservations mentioned above) and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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