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Avulsed > Eminence in Putrescence > Reviews
Avulsed - Eminence in Putrescence

The debut of spanish death metal legends - 80%

psiguen, April 23rd, 2014

Avulsed is quite a legend in his home country (and mine) Spain. For me, being Spanish as well, it seems they've been around since the very beginning. And indeed they have, releasing tons of demos, promos and EPs, playing everywhere and promoting themselves to the fullest. And finally, all these years of intense activity resulted pretty fructiferously and have recorded a very interesting debut album.

While on their previous releases they sounded a bit weak, on this album they achieved a more mature sound that's full of power and originality. Having listened to all of their previous releases, I honestly expected this album to be average (mostly because of the poor production on 'Carnivoracity'), but I was very surprised when I first listened to it. The main differences with their previous releases is the powerful sound and a really clear production compared to the early stuff.

There's a balance in the recording where maybe the drums sound a bit louder than the rest, but it's not hiding any other instrument, though. I find the drums' sound to be a little artificial, especially the bass drums, but Furni's performance is quite better. He's been improving technically a lot since he was in Intoxication. Now his style of drumming is more varied and dynamic, adding a very interesting momentum to the band. Here he plays a wide range of tempos from slow sections to fast blasts with pretty original fills. Anyway, he's not really technical nor ultra-fast. By the way, I find the faster sections a bit crappy, that tu-pah-tu-pah bass-snare-hat pattern is pretty much bad quality punk-oriented, but his style is still decent and enjoyable (and I discovered myself tapping my feet with this album).

The guitars on this album sound crushing and heavy and mostly consist of power chords, some palm muting, and simple tremolo riffing, although sometimes the riffs become pretty complex and fast. Not Deeds of Flesh type, but it makes the songs more varied and entertaining. There're some guitar solos scattered throughout the album that are not really virtuous, but with a certain structure and quality are enough to keep your interest. The bass guitar is audible with a lot of presence unlike the average death metal recording, yet it's quite simple though, following the guitars almost note by note. As usual, there're some bass solos in several tracks. All in all, bass lines are not exceptional, although they are efficient in keeping the heaviness of the band.

One of the things I found quite appealing on this album is the inclusion of some eastern melodies in several tracks (as in "Sweet Lobotomy", "Frozen Meat", and "Killing Astral Projections"). It's a nice original addition to a band with such a rancid sound as Avulsed had in the early years. There're also some keyboards here and there which result perfectly in order to give a gloomy, dark atmosphere. Anyway, they haven't lost their characteristically rancid sound, although it's way clearer and heavier than in their early stuff.

Dave Rotten's voice sounds quite the same as on previous releases, maybe a bit deeper and way more powerful since 'Carnivoracity'. Dave sounded a bit sloppy, monotonous, and somehow lacking power. For me, his vocals are quite characteristic. He's not the average growling ogre. His voice is not so low, but here it has a good level of power and it's perfectly intelligible (I still need the lyrics sheet, though). Lyrics are written in the vein of their previous stuff: gore, death, mutilations, and so on, but with a humorous approach. I know the lyrics are not in perfect English (nor are my reviews anyway), but they work and fit the rancid style of death metal perfectly.

The inclusion of the cover of Barón Rojo's "Resistiré" seems quite hilarious and maybe laughable for a Spanish crowd. It didn't make sense to me when I first listened to this album back in 1996-97 as I found it quite démodé (the original one is from 1982), but after some years I've seen it as a pretty obvious cover for a Spanish band like Avulsed, as most of the band members surely grew up listening to Barón Rojo and the likes (I'm a bit younger than Dave & Co., but I'm not a child and I know Barón Rojo as well. In fact. I rediscovered them since this album). Indeed, they used to play it live some years ago. The version is somewhat faster, but apart from that it's quite close to the original one.

In conclusion, a great debut album with its faults and its highlights. A nice, interesting album for anyone into old school death metal.

A Very Good Album by Avulsed - 89%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, December 10th, 2008

Avulsed is maybe the only Spanish band that reached a quite remarkable success in Europe in the extreme metal field. In the past there were lots of good bands on this style in Spain but few survived and many are still on the underground. Avulsed started as a gore death metal band and remained more or less the same all over these long years. Their demos are numerous and finally they released the first album Eminence in Putrescence in 1996. In my opinion, Carnivoracity was not a real, complete album because contained re-recorded versions of the homonymous EP and several covers.

So, this Eminence in Putrescence officially started the best period for this band. The death metal was becoming very popular worldwide and they were ready to contribute. The gore violence of the first demos is now displayed with a better production but the essence doesn’t change and we are again here to be submerged by ultra gore vocals and gross, low tuned guitars. The CD starts with “Hidden Perversions” and his massive use of the bass drum. The riffs are sloppy on the rhythmic session, in order to be even more obscure and perverted. There are a lot of breaks in which some more melodic parts enter to create a great balance between the gore elements and the more accessible passages.

The main role for the veiled melodies and the gore atmosphere is by the guitars and the vocals. “Sweet Lobotomy” also shows some more melodic overtures by the lead guitars under the massive distortion. As always, the tempo is never too fast and some up tempo parts are enough to give variety to the obscure and lifeless sound. The snare drum sound is metallic and in contraposition to the low guitars tone and the not too clear bass drum. The groove is always important for Avulsed; far more than the sheer violence and speed, so check out “Powdered Flesh” and the manic riffage with lots of tempo changes and stop and go parts.

“Goreality”, “Gangrened Divined Stigma” and “Frozen Meat” are faster but they never surpass the up tempo and they are always filled with the gore, rotten mid-paced parts. The riffs are putrid and sometimes we can find those voluntary perverted and melodic guitars passages. A more obscure and morbid atmosphere can be found on the following “Ecstasy for Decayed Chunks” and when they point on the dark melodies of the guitars they are the best. “Killing Astral Projections” is again very good for this reason and it mixes perfectly the sheer brutality with it.

“Bodily Ransack” is more concentrated on the speed before introducing the last song that is a cover by Baron Rojo and sounds a bit more rock in style with the unique gore touch. It’s a very good cover and the refrain is funny with the growl tonality. However, even the lead parts are very well-done and they conserve that obscure tonality to they end perfectly this little gem in gore death. It’s too overlooked but surely worth more than just a fast listen. This is simply an almost obligatory stopover for those who appreciate this music and for those who are tired of listening to always the same bands and albums.