Disgorge - Cranial Impalement

This is the ONLY death metal release that comes close to dethroning the mighty 'Effigy of the Forgotten', in terms of sheer brutality. Well, perhaps Cryptopsy's 'None so Vile' as well, but Lord Worm's horrendously goofy vocals prevent it from grasping that '100%' status.

From the mind blowingly vomitous introductory growl to the first palm muted pummeling, this is the sort of sonic bludgeoning that does NOT come around very often.

Let it be known that I've come to cringe at the "development" of the "brutal/slam" sub-genre that Disgorge undoubtedly helped create. Let it also be known that at the time that this was released, it was a very exciting time to be involved in the death metal scene as after a rather dry few years (1994-1997) where most death metal bands were either breaking up or altering their style beyond the point of recognition, bands such as Disgorge began to emerge and were finally attempting to raise the bar even further than that set by Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, etc. Granted, the endeavor would prove to be a double edged sword in the long run, but at this point nobody gave a fuck. There was an undeniable rush when listening to music this over the top, not to mention that I was still in my early/mid 20's at the time that this was released, so I still had a good amount of piss and vinegar to spew out.

The unfortunate thing about this album and probably the one, major factor that prevents it from becoming an all out classic is that after the first few songs, further listening tends to become a supremely monotonous test of endurance. I can only handle so many gurgled "ooh's" and "ree's" before the inevitable need to bounce rises within me, not to mention that there is hardly any direction on this release whatsoever. Everything just kind of goes off on these spastic and mindless tangents.

Ultimately, this album carries with it to this day that same shock value that blew me away back in 1999. I'm glad to have been there when bands like Disgorge, Devourment and Gorgasm were beginning to erupt from out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, it became apparent to me after a fashion, that I could only tolerate this style of death metal in extremely small doses. For what it is and what it is worth, though, this particular release will in all probability remain at the top of the compost pile, despite how many others attempt to "out gurgle" and "out blast" each other. This is pretty much the final statement in how far you can actually take death metal. Everyone else since have only managed to merely "trace" the blueprints.