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Sanatorium > Fetus Rape > Reviews
Sanatorium - Fetus Rape

A Beating With Purpose - 78%

Metaphysical_Anomaly, January 4th, 2007

Imagine for a minute, if you will, being jumped by 5 guys on an unnamed street somewhere in an urbanized area. The first thing that hits you is the shock of the most likely traumatic experience that is about to unfold. You think to yourself "Why me? Why did I have to take the shortcut through that alley?" It's too late for any other thoughts as the assailants have laid you out on the street with a punch to the ribs, and begun thoroughly bludgeoning your facial area. This is your life, this is what you chose, blessed are the damned.

As you lay there on the cold concrete carpet, spitting up blood and teeth, one of the barbarians gets a call on his cell phone. The ring is a somewhat recognizable melody, most likely one of Bach's symphonies, and you smile a bit through the broken remnants of your mouth. This is the last thing you remember of that night, as one of them kicks you in the face and you pass out. With this morbid note, your listening experience begins...

Why the whole gruesome intro? Well, because no better scenario could prepare you for the aural beating you will receive from this album. "Oral Fistfuck" begins with a frightful growl and grinding guitar melody. Passing in and out of pounding blastbeats and up tempo melodies and scale ascensions. The song ends and leaves your mouth battered, bloody, and without teeth. You'd like to stop but the music intrigues you and draws you in. Songs like "Fetus Rape" are rife with tempo changes, grinding guitar patterns, heavy double bass overlay, and yet...not unlike an early 18th century German composer's symphonies, come packed with eerie twists and genre defying melodic patterns.

The album nearly over, your broken body issues one final gasp and your spirit passes into The Afterlife. "In Capture of Necrophile Visions" makes sure that what stays behind gets a good sloppy fucking. This song is easily the highlight of the album as it picks up into a thrashy almost punk styled variation of a brutal death metal song. The energy displayed by singer Martin is amazing, as he seems to be possessed by some sort of ancient sex deity, vocally raping and plundering your vomitous mass of lifeless flesh. The guitars and drums are faster and with more purpose on this song than the rest of the album setting up one of the most brutal fucking breakdowns ever. This song is the pièce de résistance of the album, and one of the better metal songs to come out of that region.

All and all, this album isn't going to be remembered as a classic for the ages. Nor is it going to reinvent the genre of Brutal Death Metal, though certain key elements just make it an outstanding listen at the time. Sanatorium seems to have their own method to a very eastern European style of Brutal Death, and it works, definitely holding its own against their competition in the US. Fetus Rape is an album that you will love, forget, remember, and love again, in that order.