Review Summary: Brutal Death Metal, that tries to break the mold, but just doesn't try hard enough
Guttural Secrete labels themselves as Technical Slam Death Metal, it seems like everything is being labeled techincal lately. From technical metalcore, so called matchore, which is the same as saying technical. I have to admit GS have some mind jarring parts in their music but not enough to be classified as a tech band in my opinion.
GS have being making a name for themselves in the death metal underground for several years now, with the release of their highly acclaimed ep "Artistic Creation With Cranial Stumps". The grinding riffs, pounding drums, and guttural vocals made "ACWCS" a delightful listen, that is if you like relentless brutal death metal. When their newest album "Reek of Pubescent Despoilment" came out I didn't know if they could top their previous release, so I read some reviews, and they all were claiming that "ROPD" was a masterpiece. So I had to check it out for myself. All the insturments are played with precision on this album, and they most definetely have topped their previous release, but it is far from a masterpiece.
Maybe it's the horrific production on some of the tracks(yes, i know it's death metal, but some tracks are where you can hear them perfectly and then others sound like some kult black metal band recorded this album) or the heard it before slam riffs that are thrown in just to make the tracks longer. I like anyother die heard death metal fan love a to hear a good slam riff, but at times they sound out of place in the songs. Now don't get me wrong there are alot of postives going on on this record.
Musicianship wise, GS score very highly in my book. They definetley know their way around their instruments, hell they even throw in a instrumental track to mix it up a little! The guitars grind their way through every track with blinding speeds, and at times mind altering riffs(that is if you can hear them). The drumming is solid, I salute their drummer because he does a marvelous job. Oh, how could I forget about Blue Jensen, the man is a guttural vocal god, he does things with his vocal cords that most people would never imagine could be produced by a human being. No, I didn't leave out the bass, even though it seems GS did, the point is you just can't hardly hear it.
Overall this is a a solid album, and I would recommend it to any die hard Brutal Death Metal fan, or if your just looking for something that will make you want to bludgeon your neighbor, then pick this CD up.
