The County Medical Examiners - Forensic Fugues And Medicolegal Medleys
2002 - Razorback Records
By Philip Whitehouse.
Go to the Razorback Records website.
The County Medical Examiners? Sounds almost like some jokey pub-rock band, doesn't it? Well, fear not gentle readers, this CD is not some Chas & Dave-esque trawl through teeth-grindingly unamusing folk ditties, but is in fact a slice of grinding death metal from those fine purveyors of sonic sickness, Razorback Records.
Comprising of two forensic pathologists and a medical student, this trio of gorefiends grunt, gurgle, thrash and blastbeat their way through 12 tracks of unadulterated Carcass worship that makes them entertaining, if sadly redundant. Everyone already owns 'Symphonies Of Sickness', surely?
Still, the tracks are vicious enough in their own right to be listenable - the opening riff to 'Vitreous Humour' is about as catchy as goregrind can get - but the unoriginal nature of the sound is compounded by a few more flaws that make the listening experience rather akin to watching a loved one's corpse decompose. Firstly, the drums are very quiet in the mix, so where one expects to hear a battering, unstoppable roll of bassdrums and snares, one in fact can make out a tinny, unobtrusive rattle somewhere behind the guitars.
Secondly, the vocals are a bit annoying. Don't get me wrong, illegible gurgling noises are okay in their place, but one of the members in particular sounds like an English butler belching his way through 'Gray's Anatomy'. Which is a shame, since a glance at the lyric sheet reveals some exceptionally detailed and occasionally educational lyricism set in and around the world of forensic pathology.
I imagine TCME would say that I was missing the point by largely damning them as Carcass clones - indeed, their mission statement on the Razorback bio pages says that they wear this accusation as a 'badge of pride' - but personally, I feel that innovation rather than emulation is the way forward, and as a result, this album leaves me as cold as the corpses the members examine from day to day.
4/10.
2002 - Razorback Records
By Philip Whitehouse.
Go to the Razorback Records website.
The County Medical Examiners? Sounds almost like some jokey pub-rock band, doesn't it? Well, fear not gentle readers, this CD is not some Chas & Dave-esque trawl through teeth-grindingly unamusing folk ditties, but is in fact a slice of grinding death metal from those fine purveyors of sonic sickness, Razorback Records.
Comprising of two forensic pathologists and a medical student, this trio of gorefiends grunt, gurgle, thrash and blastbeat their way through 12 tracks of unadulterated Carcass worship that makes them entertaining, if sadly redundant. Everyone already owns 'Symphonies Of Sickness', surely?
Still, the tracks are vicious enough in their own right to be listenable - the opening riff to 'Vitreous Humour' is about as catchy as goregrind can get - but the unoriginal nature of the sound is compounded by a few more flaws that make the listening experience rather akin to watching a loved one's corpse decompose. Firstly, the drums are very quiet in the mix, so where one expects to hear a battering, unstoppable roll of bassdrums and snares, one in fact can make out a tinny, unobtrusive rattle somewhere behind the guitars.
Secondly, the vocals are a bit annoying. Don't get me wrong, illegible gurgling noises are okay in their place, but one of the members in particular sounds like an English butler belching his way through 'Gray's Anatomy'. Which is a shame, since a glance at the lyric sheet reveals some exceptionally detailed and occasionally educational lyricism set in and around the world of forensic pathology.
I imagine TCME would say that I was missing the point by largely damning them as Carcass clones - indeed, their mission statement on the Razorback bio pages says that they wear this accusation as a 'badge of pride' - but personally, I feel that innovation rather than emulation is the way forward, and as a result, this album leaves me as cold as the corpses the members examine from day to day.
4/10.
