Review Summary: You could very well be "gagged, shagged, and bodybagged" if you don't buy this.
While many positive aspects of death metal have certainly given it a legacy as a genre, run-of-the-mill themes of gore and blasphemy have proven to be a point of contention with many listeners. Clearly, many bands use more sophisticated themes such as philosophy and personal struggles, and yet primal depictions of bloodshed and death have been used as a sort of scapegoat for a variety of bands in the genre. With that said, what do you get when such lyricism is simultaneously satirized and accompanied by wonderfully high-quality compositions? You get Gorerotted.
While firmly rooted in brutal death metal a la Cannibal Corpse, Gorerotted added a few unique touches to their sound. To start off, there were two vocalists in the group, with Ben Goreskin (interesting stage name, huh?) doing low grunts/growls while Mr. Gore would do high-pitched shouts and screams. It's basically the female-and-male "Beauty and the Beast" vocal contrast, but instead the "beauty" is replaced with another "beast." Mixed in with the non-stop bludgeoning riffs, the band's music is not exactly "easy listening"... and their first hellride of an album isn't any different.
Whereas the band's next two efforts would inject some maturity into the band's sound, Mutilated in Minutes is pure, raw deathgrind/death metal. There are no unnecessary embellishments, just a full-on assault of aural intensity. However, the first thing you may notice is the humor they brought to the song titles. With such family-friendly tunes such as "Put Your Bits in a Concrete Mix" and "Gagged, Shagged, Bodybagged," how could you go wrong? The latter number is probably the album's best cut as well, mixing nice tempo variations with a knack for consistently engaging songwriting. Once the blast-beat section (right after the intro portion) occurs and everything gets cranked up, there's absolutely no going back; the intensity remains constant by that point. Plus, when Mr. Gore mentions that he's pulling down his "trousers" to perform the titular act to his victim, one can't help but laugh at his delivery of these lyrics, especially in contrast to such brutal music. Another highlight with a similarly funny name, "Cut, Gut, Beaten, Eaten," starts unconventionally with a slow pummeling groove with the occasional drum fill to bring some variety into the mix. The payoff to this build-up is extraordinary, with Mr. Gore screaming at the top of his lungs to a crushing ascending riff. The various speed metal and breakdown sections that follow are equally as entertaining, definitely a showcase for the members' level of playing variety.
Most of the songs are short, sweet, and to the point. Very rarely do any of the tracks feel like they're dragging; in fact, most of them feel like a blur after they've concluded. However, this is actually a good thing; the album demands multiple listens, and while the record as a whole is short, its replay value is enormous because of these repeated plays. Songs like "Put Your Bits in a Concrete Mix" and "Corpse F*cking Art" are mainly to be taken at face value, but others, such as the aforementioned "Gut, Gut, Beaten, Eaten" and the title track need more than one earful to take in all the nuances behind the initial storm of riffs and growls. It's also worth it to hear such morbidly hilarious dialogue in each song; be prepared though, it's tough to make out what they're saying most of the time, so have a lyric website on standby.
The only slight flaw is that the record is indeed very short. While I stated earlier that the replay value is high, that's only for the people that can actually stomach this style of music. If the concept of listening to a full Napalm Death or Obituary album is a difficult task to complete for you, then get as far away from this record as you can; it absolutely will not sway you into more extreme music if you aren't accustomed to it. People who are, however, are in for a bloody treat, one of both twisted humor and exceptionally well-composed extreme metal.
