Tales of Necrophilia

I remember first hearing about this album from a youtuber named jimmy from the block a relatively big metal youtuber and Justin Horval CEO of Hell's Headbangers in Ohio who raves about this album as well. Jimmyfromdablock put this in his honorable mentions of his favorite brutal death metal albums. I decided to then go and listen to it on youtube because the cover art was nasty as shit (it includes a skinned skeleton raping a headless woman) expecting some stupid slam with sink vocals. I was shocked I heard this cunning, brutal, technical slab of savagery. After that I decided shit this is incredible and bought it off bandcamp.

The first thing I have to praise is Tony Tipton and Ben Deskins guitar playing abilities. They play very technical, evil, sounding riffs that sound like a mixture of Gorgasm and Suffocation with all the minor sounding melodies and diminished arpeggiated chords. I mean listen to track one "Out of the Womb" where they play these frenetic scale runs in the 2nd minute and there are your brutal death metal breakdowns as well. They play these melodic minor, and harmonic scale runs throughout the pieces and the drumming alternates between relentless blasts and standard thrash fills. The guitar playing is some of the best I've honestly ever heard in death metal. It's punishing to an extreme degree, relentlessly brutal, and it includes phenomenal neo-classical guitar solos imbued with melody and feeling put into them. The listener can clearly tell there was a lot of thought put into the solos themselves. Also listen to the outro track "Fetal Suffocation" it has beautiful melodies on the acoustic guitar.

The drumming is incredible as well by Dan Baker. It reminds me heavily of Kevin Talley of Dying Fetus the blast beats, the tom rolls, and ride cymbal usage. The vocalist Brian Baxter has incredible range in his death metal vocals going from very puke sounding guttural noises, to mid range growls to ear piecing screams. A lot of brutal death metal the vocalists only employ one vocal range puked gutturals and that's it. This on the other hand is unique in the vocal range including a multitude of different vocal patterns. Brian Baxter also plays incredible bass lines on the album while singing just listen to the first track.

The lyrics are typical brutal death metal affair gore, baby killing, graveyard sexytime typical stupid themes, but because of how utterly dark the music is itself it gives of a much more barbaric, relentless tone of inhuman savagery. A lot of brutal death metal bands play two note chugga chugga slam riffs with nothing else in between and have yoyo boy lyrics and baseball caps. This album though because of technical the music is it gives off a much darker and more serious vibe. Like oh shit! These guys aren't fucking around with this stuff they really mean to mutilate and torture me, then rape the dead body after mutilation. This album is a must have if are you into the really dark and obscene style of grisly brutal death metal. The only issue I have with this album as others have mentioned is that it has a very short run time. It leaves you wanting much more, but I guess because the album is that good it's a possible plus. It leaves you craving more from them but they pull back leaving the listener wanting to listen to it again. Overall, though one of the GOATS of death metal. I much prefer this over something like Devourment, Disgorge (USA), Internal Bleeding, or Cephalotripsy, it has much more substance. Listen to it!

From the artwork to the production, Regurgitation's "Tales of Necrophilia" has everything the old school brutal death metal fan could ask for. Drenched in elements of horror and groove, the mid-scooped guitars and guttural vocals are somewhat reminiscent of fellow classic alumni Cannibal Corpse and Baphomet. The lyrics, as you can imagine from an album with this title, are the standard in such a genre: infanticide by immolation, torture, sexy time in graveyards, and mutilation in general, be it genital or otherwise. So all round good stuff where that's concerned. The riffing, however, has a nice contemporary feel to it, reminding me of bands like Disgorge (USA), Gorgasm, Dying Fetus, old school Carcass, and Broken Hope; with the drummer keeping pace beautifully.

The only real drawbacks from this album, which are very few, are as follows: the first one being that it feels as though it's one song too short. The seven songs (plus one instrumental, which has a runtime of less than a minute) are decent lengths, and run over 27 minutes collectively, but the album flows so well that it feels as though it's being cut short just a little too soon. However, that could be intentional, as it certainly does leave you wanting more, as any great album should. There is also once point during the opening track "Out of the Womb", where vocalist/bassist Brian Baxter screams over a breakdown riff, which unfortunately cuts a little too loud into the mix, somewhat spoiling the atmosphere that they had so masterfully built up. Thankfully, it isn't to a point that's unlistenable and is quickly forgiven as he actually attempts to enunciate, whereas other vocalists in the genre have merely slipped into the habit of just gargling (whilst having gone through the effort of composing lyrics), injecting their music with a shot of monotony. Luckily for us though, by the sheer musicianship and brutality, particularly between guitarists Tony & Ben, who swap solos magnificently which one another, this album has all the heaviness a brutal death metal fan could want, from tightly wound blast beats to 3/4 waltzes a la Suffocation.

As catchy as it is horrid, this album truly does deserve to be on the shelves of metalheads the world over and then some. And if old school '90s death metal is your preferred piece of quiche, then Regurgitation will sit right at home. From its clunking bass, fanatic drumming, old school riffage, evil gutturals, and groove, "Tales of Necrophilia" still proves to stand the test of time more than 20 years later.

This is an often overlooked great album from the 2nd great brutal explosion of the late 90s. After releasing a mediocre demo titled "conceived through vomit" in 1996, they got Brian Baxter (ex-sodomized, gorgasm, ablated records), and Dan Baker (ex-sodomized) who obviously made a huge impression on the band since this album completely destroys the demo. They seemed to be making waves in the scene with tons of positive reviews, good sales and some fest appearances, but like most great bands, lineup changes and internal BS eventually would cause their demise. This album is a guitar players masterpiece. Having seen this band live, I can say that Ben and Tony are 2 of the most talented guitar players in the scene. This album features to me, a perfect mix of chunky beatdown riffs (not slams), and whimsical fretboard mastery that will leave your head spinning! Theres a dual vocal assault with everything from puked gutturals, to midrange lows, to sick ear piercing highs... The drums are good and I especially like the snare sound. These guys bring back the days of great solos in deathmetal, with a talented solo in almost every song, and even a bass solo in one of them! If you dont have this album, youre really missing out on something great. This is sick brutal deathmetal that is far from average despite the familiar sick gore lyrics and imagery. Mandatory!

Ben and Tony have since gone on to form NECROTIC DISGORGEMENT who have released an album on comatose records called "suffocated in shrinkwrap". If youre a fan of this album, you need to check that out too!! 2 thumbs up on both albums all the way around!