Purulent Necrosis - Cadaverized Humanity

Angry Metal Guy 60

Writing about brutal death metal can be a tiring or joyous experience—I suppose it depends on how much you need to do it. “Brutal” only has so many synonyms, and 1000 Ways to Die only has so many good analogies ripe for the taking. The good folks at Comatose Music traffic almost exclusively in brutal death metal, so their promo team needs to get creative. It won’t surprise you that Purulent Necrosis is brutal death metal—that morbid word salad (with feta) is what brutal band names are made of. I commend Comatose on their promotion of Cadaverized Humanity though—upon its release, according to the label, “indiscriminate killing on an unprecedented scale is sure to follow.”

Why would such a thing happen? Certainly not because Cadaverized Humanity is a bad or even mediocre album, because it isn’t. Perhaps we’ve all been brainwashed at some point, and when we hear just these particular blasts, gurgles, slams, and riffs, many of us will become Slamchurian Candidates with no specific target. I suppose it’s commensurate with the occasion to warn the public what this coded signal sounds like. This is thoroughly modern brutal death metal, existing in the world of Blood Oath and polished later Condemned. Some parts here will remind of post-Cerrito Suffocation’s melodic trimmings, and some will remind of a less complex Dying Fetus. This sits right in the middle of the genre, doing little original but doing it well. There’s nothing wrong with this, and the familiarity is at once comforting and appealing.

Cadaverized Humanity is enjoyable yet unremarkable. While this sounds like a slight, it’s not—Purulent Necrosis is a band whose specialty is making good brutal death metal. There’s some gnarly riffing and transitions here to be had, such as the pinch harmonic abuse into a beefy slam with slightly fewer pinch harmonics in “Merciless Vivisection Process” which stands out, but only slightly above the rest of the material. The recurring tapping section reminiscent of modern Cannibal Corpse in “Invoke the Creophagous” is good stuff, as is the Hobbesian melodicism which concludes the record on “Throne of Carnage.” This being a modern record, some clean and spastic shreds are imported from modern tech-death and put to great use on “Vile Formations of Putridity” to punctuate and accentuate a frenetic chromatic chug which is smartly undergirded by something approaching a gravity blast.

If there’s one frustrating element of Cadaverized Humanity, it’s the vocals. Don’t get me wrong, I love brutal vocals, and the more over the top the better (see: Pathology’s Awaken to the Suffering). Despite being capable of other styles, Purulent Necrosis obsessively employs the “growl a vowel” technique over nearly everything here. It works more often than it fails but the odd section stands out as an error in judgment. The Cannibal Corpse-meets-Suffocation riff in “Purity Shrouded in Putrefaction” is good, but vocally none of that energy or agility possessed by Corpsegrinder or Frank Mullen is present, and the potentially great section is sapped of some energy by a burbling wordless soup. Fortunately, the vocals don’t present an issue most of the time—after I’m a bit disappointed in the performance the above track, “Decimate the Consecrated” comes along with a wide array of simple but effective slams and all is well again on the vocal front. I’m also legally obliged to grumble about the title track, which is a short sound-effect interlude—it breaks the album in half, but the well-placed sample at the end of “Calculated Acts of Retribution” did a similar thing better and kept the momentum up where it should be on this type of record.

To be clear, I enjoyed Cadaverized Humanity. It’s an exercise in genre aesthetics, but it’s a good one that ticks the right boxes, doesn’t drag, and promises plenty of fun for your friendly neighbourhood death metal fan. It’s produced a bit too cleanly—specifically the drums—but it’s not plastic or overtly digital. The bass is also pleasantly audible and does some interesting harmonies, adding another enjoyable dimension to the Purulent Necrosis sound. I’m of the view that there’s a lot to appreciate here, and the upfront, unchallenging nature of the compositions is an asset and not a liability. Cadaverized Humanity did not give me an urge to kill indiscriminately, but it did give me an urge to spin it again. Perhaps I’m the worst Slamchurian Candidate in world history, or perhaps Cadaverized Humanity is just a good brutal death metal record.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Comatose Music | Bandcamp
Website: facebook.com/purulentnecrosis
Releases Worldwide: November 1st, 2019

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