Putrified Vaginal Infibulation

I am surpised that there is only one band here on the archives that decided to name itself "Masturbation". I guess it's not an especially brutal word, but still. "Masturbation". It has a nice ring to it. And with a name like that, you know what to expect. Brutal death metal. And that's what you get. It's straightforward, really. Less straightforward is the name of this album. "Putrified Vaginal Infibulation". I know what those first two words mean, even if the first is misspelled. But what about "Infibulation"? The act of inserting a fibula into something? No. It means "The surgical modification or mutilation of the genitals". So that's pretty brutal. A perfectly fitting album title.

Like a lot of bands in the genre, this album is short. Discounting the bonus tracks, there are 20 minutes worth of music on this thing. Normally this would be considered a negative, but not in this case. I actually find it to be a little on the long side.

That's because of the one major flaw on this album. The snare drum. Yeah, it might seem weird to point out a minor thing like that as an album's biggest flaw, but you haven't heard this damn thing. It sounds like an oil barrel being banged on with a pipe in an echo chamber, and it completely drowns out all other aspects of the music. It makes no difference if blastbeats are being played or not, since the echo fills in any gaps. There are sporadic breaks that might last a few seconds at most, but other than that, the only reprieve is the occasional crappy sample.

If you manage to look past the omnipresent snare drum, you don't find much of anything underneath. The vocalist is okay, but he doesn't do anything notable. Just run-of-the-mill unintelligible grunting and burping. The guitars play mindless riffs that do nothing to stand out from each other. There are a few parts that might be considered slams, but there is no catchiness to them. Most of it is just endless droning that serves as the undercurrent of the album. There are no solos, but there are a few pinch harmonics. Those are almost as good, really.

Another thing this album lacks is songwriting. There is only blasting and the absence of blasting. The riffs and vocals don't change in between those sections. The entire effect of all this is very chaotic, almost industrial. It has a sort of appeal, just because of how unrelenting it is. After a while it stops sounding like music at all. The closest band I can think of, sound wise, is Enmity. That's the easiest way to describe what this album sounds like. Just take Enmity's trademark sound and add an annoying snare drum.

I can't recommend this, due to the snare drum, but I can't really blame the band. Since when is brutal death metal supposed to be good, anyway? Who cares if it doesn't have any catchiness? It's all about being as brutal as possible, and Masturbation certainly succeed on that front.

This is some truly scary shit. The entire album is fucking frightening, to use one word. Unlike releases that try so hard to achieve some sort of intimidation factor, these guys go around it the only way possible; sonically. Instead of having exceptionally over the top scary lyrical content, they stay simple, using disease, suicides and psychological warfare as lyrical themes. What makes this album scary is the way it is recorded. The best term I think I can use for it is industrial, or almost industrial. The music is Colombian death metal in the vein of Goretrade, Carnal, Suppuration, etc, but is recorded more in an experimental fashion. The snare sounds like a tin drum, or just a piece of metal being banged, and the guitars are very low and scratchy, as well as the bass tones are all fuzzy and disgusting. The vocals are basically ghastly gutturals, staying in the background and providing a basic atmosphere through out. The best attempt at describing it was by my lady, who said it sounded like a car factory that has been rewired to make rhythmic noise instead of cars. The music is basically like that, and the intros also carry this feel with them, which is quiet weird because they are taken from movies as far as I can tell. Over all I really enjoyed this album, for the weird recording style is matched whit music that sounds very good with this type of recording. I do not know if that was accidental or if they planned to make it sound so industrial, but either way it works really effectively. The music is not all that special in song structure or riffing, but the sonic aspects make this band one of my favorite Colombian new comers. This is not to be missed, for I think it out does many of its fellow country mates, which is already a pretty hard task. Recommended for fans of brutal death metal only, and in that only for fans of hyper blasting gut puking insanity.