General Surgery/The County Medical Examiners - Split CD
2003 - Razorback Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Take a look a little further down the reviews list, and you'll see that I recently took another look at the first two Carcass albums. Within that review, you may notice I mention that legions of goregrind bands have been using the template set by that seminal band of sickos for almost fifteen years now. With that in mind, if you're not overly interested in originality in your goregrind (which, let's be honest, has never been a major factor in the genre's development) and the re-release of the defining works in the genre hasn't whetted your appetite for more blood-soaked depravity, you could do much worse than check out this release.
First up, General Surgery - coming out of a ten year hiatus only interrupted by the recording of a track for a - wait for it - Carcass tribute album in 2001, and ready once more to remind everyone exactly why it was that Bill Steer is rumoured to have called GS the best Carcass clones he'd ever heard. The seven tracks they contribute to this split are absolutely dripping with 'Reek Of Putrefaction' worship, but blessed with somewhat more modern production. The punishing guitar and bass sounds occasionally threaten to drown out the drums, but on the whole these are satisfying, brutal slabs of grind.
Next, The County Medical Examiners. I reviewed these guys not long ago, and to be honest, I wasn't very flattering. But now I'm beginning to think I missed the point first time round. Perhaps the replacement of original bassist Michelle Hayes with a fifty-plus jazz musician has kick TCME up the arse a bit, or maybe I was just in a particularly critical mood that day, but the tracks on this spit absolutely rock. Carcass worship throughout, obviously, but very well executed Carcass worship nonetheless. Their songs contain a bit more of 'Symphonies Of Sickness' style finesse to them than GS', and the production's a bit more balanced too, so that gives them the edge overall.
So, a fine slab of goregrind with worthy contributions from both bands. If you're looking for no more than some old-school goregrind from some of the most fanatic followers of the originating band in existence, then this is a must.
7/10
2003 - Razorback Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Take a look a little further down the reviews list, and you'll see that I recently took another look at the first two Carcass albums. Within that review, you may notice I mention that legions of goregrind bands have been using the template set by that seminal band of sickos for almost fifteen years now. With that in mind, if you're not overly interested in originality in your goregrind (which, let's be honest, has never been a major factor in the genre's development) and the re-release of the defining works in the genre hasn't whetted your appetite for more blood-soaked depravity, you could do much worse than check out this release.
First up, General Surgery - coming out of a ten year hiatus only interrupted by the recording of a track for a - wait for it - Carcass tribute album in 2001, and ready once more to remind everyone exactly why it was that Bill Steer is rumoured to have called GS the best Carcass clones he'd ever heard. The seven tracks they contribute to this split are absolutely dripping with 'Reek Of Putrefaction' worship, but blessed with somewhat more modern production. The punishing guitar and bass sounds occasionally threaten to drown out the drums, but on the whole these are satisfying, brutal slabs of grind.
Next, The County Medical Examiners. I reviewed these guys not long ago, and to be honest, I wasn't very flattering. But now I'm beginning to think I missed the point first time round. Perhaps the replacement of original bassist Michelle Hayes with a fifty-plus jazz musician has kick TCME up the arse a bit, or maybe I was just in a particularly critical mood that day, but the tracks on this spit absolutely rock. Carcass worship throughout, obviously, but very well executed Carcass worship nonetheless. Their songs contain a bit more of 'Symphonies Of Sickness' style finesse to them than GS', and the production's a bit more balanced too, so that gives them the edge overall.
So, a fine slab of goregrind with worthy contributions from both bands. If you're looking for no more than some old-school goregrind from some of the most fanatic followers of the originating band in existence, then this is a must.
7/10
