Review Summary: Om nom nom.
This record is disgusting, in the best way. On paper there’s nothing revolutionary here, just gore-soaked brutal death metal. But here’s the thing: well played, well composed gore-soaked brutal death metal that actually entertains and sticks in your head is rare as hell. Most bands either collapse into pure noise or bore you with repetition. Antropofagus manage to avoid both.
The opener hits right away, no warming up. About halfway in the record slows down a bit, enough to give you a breather, but it still works. That little bit of variety keeps the whole thing from blurring into one long blastbeat. It’s brutal but not monotonous.
They sound incredibly tight too. This isn’t chaos for the sake of chaos :it’s a band that knows exactly how far to push before pulling things back into shape. The production helps: the mix is rough enough to feel like the soundtrack to a vivisection, but clean enough that you can pick out what every instrument is doing. For this style, that’s ideal.
The gore and the lyrics fit perfectly with the music. They give the record its personality without drowning it in cartoon splatter. It feels more like a slasher movie, you know ? Those ones that are bloody, thrilling, over the top, than a nasty splatter flick that only appeals to gorehounds. I’m not really into gorey lyrics myself, but this never put me off.
No one’s going to call No Waste of Flesh a lost gem of the genre. Outside of Italian death metal circles it won’t make history. But it doesn’t need to. What matters is that it’s fun, violent, and better written than most brutal death metal records of its time.
I don’t spin it that often, but as a guitar player I can’t help but smile at some of the riffs. They’ve got that nasty little hook that makes you want to pick up the instrument and join in. For me that’s enough to give it a solid 4/5. Not essential, but definitely worth hearing if you want to know how this stuff should be done.
