An Anatomy of the Beast

As the death metal nut that I am, it's about damn time I talked about Intestine Baalism. The Internet seems to have a lot of bands that get shitloads of praise thrown onto their shoulders, and this band from Japan is no different. The argument is that their debut album, 1997's An Anatomy of the Beast, is the prime example of melodic death metal that isn't complete garbage, Thinking this was only the case because it was a Japanese band, and most exports from Japan receive insane amounts of praise regardless of quality, I sort of brushed it off. However, on my first listen some years ago, the argument of "melo-death done right" seemed to be the case. Here I am now, coming back to it in 2023, and the argument still holds weight.

Musically, this reminds me of a lot of bands like Vehemence and Dismember with a lot of At the Gates type of influence sprinkled within. At its core, this is melodic death metal, but it's not one of those cases where the band leans far more into the melodic (and in a lot of cases, poppy) territory. Intestine Baalism do not forget where they come from, it seems. Most of the time the album is standard fare for death metal in the 90's, being very raw and brutal (atmospherically, especially), especially songs such as the opener "Corporal Celebration", "Energumenus", and "Tyrant". The "melodic death metal" categorization really comes into play with the ending of the aforementioned opening track, as well as the title track, which follows immediately. The latter sounds like the opening riff could have fit on a melodic metalcore album from the early 2000's as well, which isn't a bad thing at all, but it's worth noting. The band isn't urgent in a need to show off how fast or slow they can play, in fact, they balance between different speeds very well.

You may have noticed that I've been talking a lot about the guitars on this record, and it's pretty evident from first listen why that would be the case: this album is very riff-oriented, in a good way. Hell, on a number of songs you get nice, tasty guitar solos that remind me a lot of Necrophagist's more melodic side (as weird as that may sound). That, by no means, makes the rest of the musicianship a slouch. Seiji Kakuzaki, here one of the two guitarists, also performs lead vocals, and his style ranges from deep growls and barks to shrieking high screams. There's not much to talk about concerning bassist Katsumasa Yoshida, as many of the basslines follow the guitar riffs, and a lot of the same can be said about Takeshi Ohkouchi, the drummer on this record, whose style is pretty much normal fare for old school death metal, but Ohkouchi's lyrics are actually really strong, much more than I can say about what melo-death has become today.

Now onto the production, and again the word "raw" comes to mind. It's very stripped-down for death metal in the 90's, and a far cry from the Scott Burns sound of this period. It's almost Swedish in nature, but without that gratingly awful HM-2 guitar sound that plagued so many bands in the early-to-mid-90's. Every instrument is given a decent amount of space in the mix, with the exception of the bass guitar, which unfortunately tends to get buried in a lot of the songs, with a notable exception in the first 30 seconds of "Cannibal Sodom", where bassist Yoshida sticks to root notes. The drums don't overpower the mix like they would if the band were to go to Morrisound, for example, in fact, a lot of the time they sit comfortably behind the guitars, but not too far behind.

Overall, An Anatomy of the Beast is a good album, and one that definitely deserves the praise it gets. By no means is it the greatest melodic death metal album ever released, but it comes really close. Often times people come back to this record as "the example piece", as it were, and there's good reason for it. However, taking the Internet's word on things isn't often a good idea, considering it's the same praise that was lobbed onto bands like Frozen Soul when they hopped on the scene.

Don't get it twisted though, this is a superb effort from a good band. Get this in your collection soon.

Story time (or what little story there is): After listening to Holy Grail by Versailles and subsequently blown away by it, I needed a palette cleanser in the form of melodic death metal. But most melodic death metal I looked up ended up being a Gothenburg ripoff, while this green coloured album just sat in my recommendations, as if begging me to click it. And on one fateful weekend, I clicked on this, and my perception for melodic death metal changed forever.

Intestine Baalism, a melodic death metal band from Tokyo, Japan, seems to have other ideas when it comes to writing melodic death metal, where instead of copying wholesale from Slaughter of the Soul/Jester Race/Gallery, they opted to do what Dismember did, but adding more crack on it. The result? Well, brilliant is an understatement here, for they have established a specific kind of melodic death metal that sounds melodic without sacrificing the brutality that is commonly associated with old school death metal. Contrary to common belief, they already have developed this style in their sole demo, and not from the 4-way split with 3 other brutal death/goregrind bands (although I do think that it might have influenced them further into this direction).

The album begins with a song that sounds like a Morbid Angel song and you might think "hold it, this is not melodic death!" and you would be right. But while the first song is too un-melodic to be consider as such, the track after it, Anatomy of the Beast, begins with a small drum roll and a bass lick, then kicks off a undeniably melodic riff that while sounding heavy, is also undeniably groovy and sounds like a traditional heavy metal riff, needless to say, it is still one of my favourite riffs in anything death metal adjacent. This establishes the song structure that will be utilized in this album and its sequels, and it is one simple but unusual structure indeed, being a structure of intro-verse-chorus-whatever-closer that will never get tiring regardless of how much you listen to them, its great.

And with the music displayed here, I would recommend the staff here to label this as a melodic brutal death/black metal because it is the closest thing that can describe them. They have brutal death metal influences like Suffocation, such as the guttural vocals and unrelenting drums/guitars, while also have black metal shrieks that appears a lot in the album, with the earliest example being near the end of the title track, but no good melodic death metal band is complete without great riffs and solos, and this band certainly has them all. Honestly, this band feels like what happens if you pit Suffocation, Dissection, and Dismember against each and force them to eat each others and absorb their powers, before only one band remains, gaining powers from the other two.

Songwriting wise, the songs never overstay their welcome, with them sitting at a chunky range of 4-6 minutes like the death metal bands of old, while leaving the songs to breathe and express themselves without relegating everything in the song into a vehicle for the chorus and discard them after the chorus is done. The one exception for this is Blasphemy Resurrected+A Place Their Gods Left Behind, which is a Siamese twin song where you cannot have one without the other. Another aspect I like about the songwriting here (and their other 2 albums) is that the songs have a melodic intro that serves as an antepiece where after the intro, it becomes a melodic background that is present throughout the song, it honestly reminds me of video games like Trails in the Sky and Castlevania where they have a main theme that other songs take inspirations from, but the context drastically changes as they are utilized different while keeping the same leitmotif.

The production here is really filthy, befitting its era of the 90s, but what makes this different is that it is after death metal production became more sterile and clean, so it is evident that the filthiness was deliberate, especially when their subsequent albums also kept the same bad/filthy production while others went on became more and more clean. It is really bad in a satisfying way, and not in the way of ICDD's debut where it is genuinely painful to listen. In my opinion, this is their definitive identity, and no matter the material, you will know its them by just how specifically filthy the guitars sound that others have not replicated since.

The lyrics here still suffers from the same pitfalls as other Japanese bands that try to sing in anything that is not their native Japanese, but unlike them (and Corrupted who flexes on the problem by singing in perfect Spanish), the vocalist growls the lyrics so its hard to even know that they are singing in English, much less knowing what they are singing about. But the lyrics are surprisingly coherent and you can actually make out a general idea of the lyrics shown, albeit overdone by other death metal bands.

Just do me a favour and check these guys out, they are really amazing, and unlike copycats of the Gothenburg scene, bands who were inspired by this band actually have some really good material under their belt, those include: Dungeon Serpent, Grenadier and Arghoslent (although I strongly despise Arghoslent's racist tendencies). Genuinely one of the best albums I have ever heard, truly a flawless album.

Spoilers: all 3 of their albums will also be 100, but it might be some time before I have time to review them all

Highlights: Anatomy of the Beast, Blasphemy Ressurected+A Place Their Gods Left Behind

After reviewing the generic trash that was Arch Enemy's latest album, I needed a reminder that melodic death metal can be good, and what better band to remind me than Intestine Baalism? Based in Japan, the band would gain notoriety in the local scene right away with their debut album "An Anatomy of the Beast" released in 1997. While this is technically melodeath, don't expect things to be all Gothenberg worship...

Right from the first song "Corporal Celebration", we can tell that this record is gonna have some unusual instrumentals. The guitars play some buzzing raw riffs in the vain of Swedish death metal bands like Entombed and Grave. The drumming is also just as crazy, as its intense blastbeats only further enforce the raw and aggressive guitars. Even the bass is very deep-tuned and provides a thick and firm foundation for the track. When I listened to this track, I thought this entire album was just gonna be OSDM, and that the melodic death metal tag wasn't worthy. But in the last portion of the track, it then cuts to a more clean produced melodic riff that evokes a more emotional and epic atmosphere. It's a turning point for the album, as we get many more melodic moments like this, such as the track "Anatomy of the Beast". However, we still get plenty of hard-hitting tracks like "Blasphemy Resurrected" and "Tyrant". At its core, the instrumentals on this album are OSDM at its core with some melodeath touches, which all works perfectly.

The vocals are also really good. Seiji Kakuzaki has done the main vocals for the band, and on all three albums, they've been fantastic. But on the debut, however, they do hit differently. A good example of this is in the track "A Place Their Gods Left Behind". His vocals on this track not only utilizes deep growls that are in the OSDM style, but he also does some shrieks that are more fitting to a black metal record, which is pretty cool. And even in some of the more melodic moments, the growls still flow well and add in some rigidness within the beautiful atmosphere. Seiji's vocals have always been fantastic, but I would argue that the vocal performances of the band peaked on their first album.

Even the lyrics are fantastic. While English isn't their first, the band was still able to produce some powerful verse. For example, in the track "Cannibal Sodom", this verse quotes:

Obsessed by an unholy sickness
The cries of Christians echoed
Satan looking down from Pandemonium
The whole creation is blasphemied and disgraced
Offer the fresh human meat
Infernal cannibalism is chaos

This verse is about the Christians being slaughtered and eaten. The description of the whole event is very graphic and disgusting, which not only plays within the blasphemous themes, but also feels grand and epic in a way that makes you root for Satan. Not only that, but these lyrics are fitting to the instruments and vocals, as the harsh and melodic riffs further amplify the intense slaughter of the Christians, and Seiji's growls and shrieks playing off as Satan eating their dismembered bodies. The lyrics are very gory, but also well-written, and would flow well with the OSDM-melodeath infused instrumentals.

A lot of people chalk down the band as a non-racist version of Arghoslent. And while that's true to a certain extent, I don't see the band as full-blown Arghoslent-worship. Their overall sound plays more into OSDM material, but also having a lot of nice melodies that feel empowering, and nowhere is this especially the case than with An Anatomy of the Beast. If you're looking for OSDM with a more melodic twist, then this album (and any other album of the band) would suffice.

Blending melody and brutality isn't something that's easy to do. On An Anatomy of the Beast, Intestine Baalism attempt this and what we end up with is a faster, and more vicious melodic death metal style that sounds like At the Gates combined with Dismember. The fusion results in some killer melodies and solos interspersed with more fast-paced blasting and shredding. The solos have a tone to them that make them feel apocalyptic and triumphant at the same time, almost like the feeling I imagine you'd get walking away from a battle with nukes and just watching the mushroom clouds hang over the horizon.

This is aggressive melodic death metal first and foremost with an emphasis placed on blending their aggression evenly with their melody. With plenty of blasting drums and ripping, speedy guitars, there is an element of ferocity to the whole thing. Yes, it's melodic death metal, but this is melodic death metal with teeth and a lot of speed, and if the aggression ever gives way to melody, the melody itself is aggressive and prominent, never losing steam. Sure, there are some songs that blur right past you, but for the most part they go solidly and make for some intense melodies. The title track has a kickass melodic hook and keeps the destruction going for the entire duration. "Blasphemy Resurrected" also makes for a great epic when it bleeds into the beginning of "A Place Their Gods Left Behind" with their glorious melodies mixing in a way that makes them feel tighter, more epic, and more aggressive. An Anatomy of the Beast is one of those albums that makes the melodies grand without ever taking it's foot off the gas.

The solos and melodic riffs are easily the best part of An Anatomy of the Beast as they are what show the raw talent Intestine Baalism possesses. They move you the most, they are where the effort is spent, and they are what put the "Beast" in An Anatomy of the Beast as they are especially grand and terrifying. Out of everything on this album, nothing made the hairs on my neck stand up quite like the closing solo to "A Place Their Gods Left Behind" it's something that echoes of victory and destruction on a world-ending level. The production only accentuates this, since it has a very solid crunch with a nice echo behind it which makes this sound much bigger. While it does sound like a somewhat grittier take on The Jester Race's production, it really works.

If you want something that combines the melody of At the Gates and the speed and grit of Dismember, An Anatomy of the Beast will suit you just fine. The sound on here is satisfying and destructive with a solid, even mixture of melody and razor-sharp aggression with a smoky production that gives an ominous glow to the atmosphere of the album. It makes for a savage album with rapid blasts, and beautifully destructive melodies and solos. It's a piece of melodeath that holds onto its ferocity with a fine balance of melody and savagery with Intestine Baalism making a statement on how melodic death metal should bare it's teeth.

The Japanese were always known to be good at everything they do in the realm of music. Always well-executed, fresh and with their own flair to their music if it's an emulation of another scene. These guys from Tokyo are no exception and they really bring down the ax like the demon in the album art.

The music here is primarily an emulation of the Swedish scene, but has some nuances that are reminiscent of the NYDM scene and the Finnish scene. The most obvious characteristic that's prevalent in Swedeath, which is here, is the buzzsaw tone. They tend to mostly play blistering, aggressive riffs that have a melodic tinge to them, much like Dismember and to a far lesser extent, Centinex. The slower, more churning bits remind me of the breakdowns/slams that are present in NYDM like Suffocation and Morpheus Descends, somewhat. These slower sections are aggressive, crushing and catchy.

In Finndeath, they've been known for having a somber atmosphere as opposed to blistering riffs or crushing brutality, even though they do have their own flair with riffing, which is present in Intestine Baalism's songs, Cannibal Sodom in particular. Depravity comes to mind when regarding that song, as well as Dismember with the lightning fast riffing. The drumming has quite the variety to it, switching up patterns and rhythm fluidly and flawlessly. Seiji Kakuzaki has powerful vocals on this album and my favorite vocal performance by him, by a longshot. His vocal delivery makes the demonic apparition on the album art come to mind, which is how I feel said creature would sound like. Deep bellowing grunts and then high pitched, almost anguished shrieks that remind me of black metal vocals, all done fantastically well on this album, it's a shame that he toned down in Banquet in the Darkness, but somewhat picked back up on Ultimate Instinct.

All the songs are prime material, but some of the better songs are Corporal Celebration, Alastor Possess, Cannibal Sodom, A Place Their Gods Left Behind and Tyrant. Corporal Celebration is the most straightforward track on the album, already punching your face in with their assault of riffs, but then 2/3 into the song, there's a touch of melody that is somewhat melancholy, going into a somewhat slow-paced solo. Cannibal Sodom has one of the most downright evil riffs in the album, starting at 30 seconds in, then going for the more atmospheric approach, which is where Depravity comes to mind. The song focuses more on melody and atmosphere than any of the songs in the album.

The acoustic track, Burn Thou in Effigy is quite a beautiful acoustic track. It's incredibly melancholy and is the calm before the final storm, which is Tyrant. It starts off slow, and then picks up a little speed before fading out, like a candle fire being blown out. Tyrant, the closing track starts off with a brutal tremolo attack that becomes atmospheric, again, Depravity coming to mind, having prominent bass that trickles along with the guitar melody, the drums plodding somewhat slowly. Then it picks up briefly before resuming the ominous, slower-paced riffing again. The bellowing growls erupt in the last third of the song, talking about a drooling, cannibalistic tyrant that is delighted to see the flesh of his next victim and rending them apart. The song closes off with a twisting riff and then the sound of a door slamming shut abruptly to end the album.

This album is one of the best in death metal that I've heard and is easily my second favorite of all time. It's just death metal executed amazingly and has its own unique spin on things, which is always refreshing. At 1997, which is commonly agreed as the 'nadir' or decline of death metal, this was a shock to hear when I first checked it out. I'm quite glad I own this album in my collection, lots of replay value. Definitely a choice cut.

My adventure with Japanese metal started really spectacularly. Somewhere in 1997 my letter box was haunted by the first album of Intestine Baalism, the beast coming straight from Tokyo. I remember that I saw and read several enthusiastic reviews in the underground press and now I can assure you about true words of editors. Through all these years “An Anatomy of the Beast” is still excellent album when we talk in death metal categories. And to be honest with my metal myself, I neglected this record a bit in the past. I mean, now I praise it much more than in the days of forgetfulness. The next important thing, I have to buy their next two albums, but I think it won’t be an easy task.

Ok, let’s move back into the year of 1997 when the first album of these Japanese metallers came in. For sure it was (and still is!) something fresh, they skillfully mixed the best elements from two schools of death metal (American and European) and added their own unique touch. Forget about dull grinding US-death outfits, forget about sweet Gothenburg melodies, these tunes are combination of pure death genre with such names as Cannibal Corpse, Immolation and the best representants of Swedish bestiality (Dismember, Desultory, Hypocrisy). The production is impeccable, great, raw and vivid sound effectively slaughters my ears, in addition I like very much the way of lead guitar realization, this is rather rare in metal world yet interesting beyond doubt, man! Some proofs? Just take a listen to the first song called “Corporal Celebration” which is in fact a correct synopsis of entirety: many tempo changes from blasts to heavy slowdowns, devastating guitar works and two kinds of vo-kills. Here I must stop at the person of Seiji Kakuzaki, the mastermind of the band, his growls are in the vein of old Finnish crews like Demigod and Demilich, and I think he did really good job. Besides screams are also present, but they are served rather seldom. The next factor worth mentioning is… melody, especially in guitar leads and some riffs. Yes, melody, but let me be damned if I would call this slab melodic death metal. In first track, after four minutes, there is a solo lead, but it brings a reverie, strange feeling indeed, it appeared totally unexpectedly in the song. Then the music runs into quite depressive guitar work. The album shows its content in excellent way, it is really good start to listen to entirety.

The next song I’d like to write about is “Cannibal Sodom”, the fourth one, which I think is the best and most recognizable here. At the beginning, the storm of mindblowing catchy riffs attack the listener, and after 53 seconds the guitar lead brings us astonishing tunes and turns into death metal inferno. Such great shows are served here three times, and my memories fly towards the land of Sweden, where bands like Desultory and Dismember ruled. Absolutely killing and memorable track. And when I write about Sweden, there is a need to mention about the last song “Tyrant”, for me Swedish death metal made in Japan. But do not expect any imitation or poor copy. Just listen to these killing riffs after 44 seconds, and tell me, how I can’t praise this band hearing such excellent riffs? Paralyzing slowdowns by rotation with fast, furious energy. Simply the essence of the genre…

So, without any hesitation, this album is absolutely must-have in every death metal collection. In short description just above, I introduced only three tracks, but believe me, the remainder isn’t worse. Only two of them, the title song has no solo lead, and “Burn Thou In Effigy” is an one minute acoustic miniature. My first feelings during listening to the album weren’t surprise. And now I still feel the same: “An Anatomy of the Beast” is a truly devastating piece of death metal with all the elements needed in this genre. Energy, brutality, twisting melody, freshness. No boredom found. So even today, after 15 years of existence in my metal collection, I highly enjoy what they composed. Superb!

Intestine Baalism: An Anatomy Of The Beast - This one of the best death metal releases of the past couple of years and it is by a Japanese death metal band. This is such an amazing release and the reason being that is because it is impossible to describe in very few sentences because there is a lot of ground to cover.

First lets start with the music. It's Swedish death metal with some oriental music elements. No foreign musical instruments like with Nile, just everything played normally. There are plenty of melodies, solos, speed, slow parts, mid-pace parts, groove, dynamics, musicianship and a lot of heaviness and brutality. There are also incredible highlights on the album like for example, at the end of Blasphemy Resurrected, there is a closing part sounds like ending part of Fade To Black by Metallica with the long solo. There is also an instrumental song and it is acoustic. So that's basically the music part.

Next, are the vocals. There are low toned vocals and they sound like a mix of Immolation, Incantation (Greig Pillard type) and Napalm Death (low Lee Dorian style). There are also black metal vocals and they're pretty much really lighter vocals in the vain of Emperor. The lyrics are Sumerian, Pagan, evil, satanic, blasphemy and gore.

So all in all, the whole album itself is pretty much an adventure almost like Slaughter Of The Soul by At the Gates. So it's hard to choose a favorite song but by all means, get the album and prepare to be amazed.

Intestine Baalism - one of my favourite melo-death band. This album is the most brutal and agressive out of their two albums. This album has a very little Gothenburg sound, but don't think this sounds like In Flames or so, hell no. This album sounds a lot more death than melodic. A strong point about this album is the acoustic song "Burn Though In Effigy". It proves that this band can be both death AND classical.

The album's kick off song, "Corporal Celebration", is not very melodic. Just pure death riffage until the end of the song, where we are granted a sweet melancholic lead. At that point, the song slowed down a bit, giving the song a more relaxed tone. "An Anatomy of the Beast" is up next, and what we have here is a song that follows the same structure as the previous song. Faster in the beginning and slower in the end, with a more melodic vibe. "Alastor Possess" is the same as the above, just this time it's not melodic at all, perfect for headbangin. At this point i'm starting to want some melodic riffage, the sound so far is a bit too "death" and repetitive. Ahh, there we go. "Cannibal Sodom" starts with an up-beat melodic riffs, with agressive drums. Very melodic riffs throughout, with a nice harmonized lead in the middle. This song is a bit longer than the other songs, and it has a different structure; it has more melodic parts. The next song, "Energumen Us", is also very melodic. Riffs are a bit more raw in the beginning, but the lead in the end is so freakin' melancholic - gave me creeps. It has a lot of feeling, and I fell like kinda sad listening to it. That lead alone gives the album a +5%. The following song brings nothing new, but it has a great riff and everything. Not a stand out track, but not the worst song on the album either. And then comes the instrumental, "Brun Though in Effigy" An extremely melodic and emotional acoustic piece that will probably bring tears to your eyes. It's incredibly simple, but it's just beautiful. It's that type of acoustic interludes that you say "damn, this is beautiful" to. The album ends with "Tyrant", another one of those raw death
metal songs. Nice headbanger friendly type of song to end an album.

More acoustic interludes would help, along with a bit more melodic parts (or leads, whatever). This album will satisfy all death/melo-death fans, whether you like Gothenburg or pure death metal.

Intestine Baalism are the underground pioneers of the "melodic death metal that doesn't forget the DEATH part" movement. This album shows their humble beginnings in the form of atmospheric/melodic death metal. The production quality is almost raw at times, with a lot of low-end bass rumbling. It has an organic yet distant feel to it that's just the right amount of x (intimacy with the listener) and y (spatial, secluded anti-personal feeling) to keep you enthralled until it ends. The band goes from grinding, resonant, cavernous bass drops at times to melodic, almost (dare I say) Gothenburgesque melodic leads and riffs in practically no time at all. The vocals are amazing. 2 different styles of vocals permeate from the stinking, putrid depths of the Beast: the sepulchral, guttural death metal vocals with a fucking nice amount of tone-deaf(ening) vibrato; and atmospheric high-pitched (yet not shrieky) exclamations.

The bass is prevalent, and while it really isn't much of a lead instrument, it provides fucking KILLER rhythm sections for the band to establish their grinding melodic leads on. Drumming is technical without being pretentious. The vocals fade in and out with considerable creepiness. The screechy black-ish vocals will probably make you jump the first time you hear them. Everything fits: all melodic riffs seamlessly integrate with the brutal pounding bass sections, all vocals weave in and out of the consistent destruction wreaked upon the annals of your temporal lobe...eh, you get the picture. Right? Are you even still awake?

Jokes aside...this is still an amazing album...but you see...it's not quite up to par with Banquet In The Darkness (which is blatantly one of the best metal albums of all time, and absolutely one of the best death metal releases I've ever heard, modern or old-school), but it can't really be compared. If you are into the old-school atmospheric death scene (Demilich, Demigod, Molested, um...that stuff), you will ADORE this album. If you like new-school death metal with uncanny melody and more straightforward clean production, but still retaining the GODDAMN MOST BRUTAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE IN RECENT HISTORY, you will want to go forward 6 years to BitD. Explore the Beast's Anatomy.