Mutilation - Conflict Inside
Adipocere Records - CDAR95 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Poland's emergence as a new leader in the death metal field would appear to be continuing unabated with the release of fifteen-year-veteran death metal act Mutilation's latest CD. Conflict Inside is an old-school death metal pummelling coloured with lurid splashes of Malevolent Creation's determined bludgeon, occasional blasts of Morbid Angel-style double-bass velocity, and a fair amount of Scream Bloody Gore-era Death - in fact, the band even include a cover of the song that they took their name from, which was included on that very same album.
However, while it may sound like Mutilation are merely a product of their influences, it transpires from the clatter and thrash of this release that they have managed to claw some identity from beneath the usual Floridian influences. Interesting structural devices come into play from time to time, jerking the listener out of any complacency by taking riffs in unexpected directions (see the last couple of minutes of the title track). There's an unusual diversity in the tempos used within the album also - 'Damned Mortality' steams along at a pretty breakneck pack for the majority of it's duration, whilst the stomping, slow-burning from-the-waist-headbanging pace of the intro of 'In The Name Of Heresy' strikes an altogether different chord.
The production is thick and punchy, with a growling, savage guitar tone and guttural vocals, backed up by a powerful drum-sound and some insistent, throbbing basslines. Overall, this is a worthy, accomplished death metal record - a fine harkening back to the days when brutality, rather than catchiness, was the hallmark of good death metal.
8/10
Official Mutilation Website
Official Adipocere Records Website
Adipocere Records - CDAR95 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Poland's emergence as a new leader in the death metal field would appear to be continuing unabated with the release of fifteen-year-veteran death metal act Mutilation's latest CD. Conflict Inside is an old-school death metal pummelling coloured with lurid splashes of Malevolent Creation's determined bludgeon, occasional blasts of Morbid Angel-style double-bass velocity, and a fair amount of Scream Bloody Gore-era Death - in fact, the band even include a cover of the song that they took their name from, which was included on that very same album.
However, while it may sound like Mutilation are merely a product of their influences, it transpires from the clatter and thrash of this release that they have managed to claw some identity from beneath the usual Floridian influences. Interesting structural devices come into play from time to time, jerking the listener out of any complacency by taking riffs in unexpected directions (see the last couple of minutes of the title track). There's an unusual diversity in the tempos used within the album also - 'Damned Mortality' steams along at a pretty breakneck pack for the majority of it's duration, whilst the stomping, slow-burning from-the-waist-headbanging pace of the intro of 'In The Name Of Heresy' strikes an altogether different chord.
The production is thick and punchy, with a growling, savage guitar tone and guttural vocals, backed up by a powerful drum-sound and some insistent, throbbing basslines. Overall, this is a worthy, accomplished death metal record - a fine harkening back to the days when brutality, rather than catchiness, was the hallmark of good death metal.
8/10
Official Mutilation Website
Official Adipocere Records Website
