Ignominious Atonement

Ignominious Atonement, the latest offering from Italian brutal death unit Putridity, is in my opinion one of the best new brutal death metal records.

Let’s start with the production. The production has a polished yet brutal sound that never comes off as “overproduced” or “corny”. It has just enough roughness to make it sound very authentic and intense, yet has good enough sonic quality to really beef up the already heavy abrasive nature of the band. The drums have a just pummeling sound to them, the production does Brutal Dave a lot of justice, he has an amazing performance on here. The guitar tone is very beefy and full, heavily distorted and thick sounding. Perfectly fits the style. The bass tone sits well in the mix. Just enough twang to be prominent, and a nice thick low end that rounds out the overall tone. I would say this record has the perfect production for a brutal death band.

Moving on to the actual songs. These tracks are rather... dare I say... technical for a straight up brutal death metal band. Lots of tempo shifts and odd time parts that are executed in perfect fashion and never come off as sloppy. Techy yet heavy riffs broken apart by an onslaught of pinch harmonics and heavy chugging riffs. The rhythm is led by some rather intense and accurate drumming. Ciccio has truly outdone himself with the guitar playing and song craftsmanship on this record. The vocals are classic new school deep guttural grunts. Very aggressive and rapid fire vocal cadences that really accent the music great.

Standout tracks for me would have to be “Conceived Through Vermination” and “The Bone sculpture”

If unrelenting brutal death metal is what you seek, look no further. This album is for those looking for pure unbridled brutality. Strongly recommended. 10/10

I can't tell you how much I love this album. I've been listening to it at least once a week for the better part of a year now. Imagine Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral combined with Cannibal Corpse's Tomb of the Mutilated, cranked up to 11.

Unlike most brutal technical death / "slam" that's become so popular so quickly, you can actually understand the vocalist, who uses traditional cookie monsters instead of the annoying pig squeals or inhale-screams. There's a continuous story through the album and despite some broken English it's had a huge effect on me personally - it will for anyone who had a rough childhood, was abused or suffered depression. The deformed baby on the cover shows exactly what you're in for.

The musicianship is extremely skilled, constantly changing time signatures and BrutalDave's drum performance is honestly the best drumming I've ever heard in my life, I can't name any metal album with a better performance. It's obviously taken him a lifetime of honing his skills.

Like the Downward Spiral, heavily distorted, texturized sound carries most of the emotion. The melancholy fade out after "Mortifying Carnality" evokes "Ruiner". Tomb of the Mutilated, as we all know, had a certain cinematic quality to it, like a well-produced horror movie and this captures that same feeling for a new generation.

It will stick with you, it will haunt you. It's so short you sometimes can't help but listen to it twice in one day, but there's so much going on so fast that every time you listen to it you hear something new. One small detail in the flurry that adds to the picture - I can't emphasize enough how every little note helps tell the story.

One of the most anticipated extreme metal albums of the year, the Italian brutal death metal machine has returned with their third full-length album and their second through Willowtip Records. Founded in 2005, Putridity were devoted to a straightforward and effective form of blasting brutality taking a page from Arizona's cult legends Enmity (even down to the similarities in the bands respective logos), the now-defunct trio known for their inscrutable and relentless compositions. Guitarist Andrea "Ciccio" Aimone has been the band's main composer and showcased an effective ability to write a more accessible and varied form of Enmity worship on the band's 2007 debut release 'Mental Prolapse Induces Necrophilism.' A strong effort on which Ciccio handled vocal duties alongside Davide "Brutal Dave" Billia (drums) and Alessandro Cravero (bass), the album was well-received and made an immediate splash in the underground.

Following up with the recruitment of Paolo Chiti for full-time vocal duties, Putridity would sign with Willowtip Records for the release of 'Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria' in 2011, a massive sophomore release which this reviewer maintains was an across-the-board improvement. Tempos increased to maniacal levels, production improved, and Paolo's vocals made a powerful impact. The band's compositions were more varied and intense, expanding substantially on their framework for one of the sickest releases of the year. Live performances, many of which can easily be found on video online, proved that the band was an exceptional performing act. They subsequently recruited second guitarist Paolo "Panino" and worked toward their third album, the subject of this review, the monster that is 'Ignominious Atonement.'

The album opens in a fashion which is reminiscent in style and approach of 'Degenerating,' with a series of tight and percussive palm-muted riffs utilizing well-placed pinch harmonics, but quickly begins to distinguish itself through its effective composition. This opening track, 'Conceived Through Vermination,' powerfully establishes the framework for what the band unleashes on the rest of the album. Where Enmity would blast endlessly through an indiscernable sea of riffs, Putridity maintains a feeling of nonstop blasting through constant manipulations of time signature. A 4/4 or 2/4 measure will give way to a 6/8 measure and vice-versa, with many one-off and straightforward riffs employed briefly to maintain a sense of ever-changing violence. Brutal Dave's drumming is utterly critical to this churning rotation and variation, as his parts flow in and out of various permutations of single-stroke rolls (blast beats, for the uninitiated) and relentless double-bass. Indeed, the myriad of different arrangements are what make Conceived Through Vermination such an effective opener. Notably embedded in the middle of the track is an extended slower break, with beautifully-crafted and utterly disgusting riffs, including some well-placed harmonies, bass breaks, and the superior vocal achievements of Chiti. Paolo has shown continual improvement and his vocals, excellent to begin with, display a great variation of tones in the guttural style and even greater depth and a more bestial throat rattle than on previous works.

Production is a noteworthy feature here; while the band has commented that the sound of the album is less organic and natural than they would have liked, the instrumental layering is exquisite. Each instrument is equalized skillfully to meld with the others and create a remarkably powerful, intense sense of battery that comes through on the most prominent musical feature used throughout the album, that being the eighth-note blast and palm-muted riff. All pieces interlock with fantastic precision, and while the band may not have found it to their utmost satisfaction, and the drums sound highly quantized, the overall effect is beyond critique. Notably, Brutal Dave's live drumming dispels any question of his capability to perform the songs on this album effectively and with great skill.

The rest of the tracks continue in largely the same fashion as 'Conceived...' - fast and barbaric. Each one succeeds in forging a character that prevents them from ever sounding overplayed or tired, despite their exceptional relentlessness and the extreme tempos which the band maintains almost without exception for the first five tracks. 'Portrait of A Soiled Innocence' and 'Dead Festering Drainage' both stood out to my ears, and 'The Bone Sculpture' contains some absolutely infections use of pinch harmonics (a high point in their use on this album, though they are employed with great skill throughout).

The album varies considerably more with tracks 'Mortifying Carnality,' an all-slow track, and 'Repugnance Enshrined In Deformity,' which blasts at a more traditional pace. Both are filled with infectious riffs and the usual, tumultuous compositions that the band has established throughout the album. The former proceeds with a morbid languor which lends a dimension comparatively absent from 'Degenerating' and their debut, while 'Repugnance' is a thoroughly catchy number making use of a more restrained and traditional death metal pace to heighten the heaviness of its riffs and draw out the potent pinch harmonics. Even more than 'Mortifying,' whose slow tempos were at least occasionally hinted at in previous work, this fast-but-not-extremely-fast tempo in 'Repugnance' is a noteworthy departure from the expected for Putridity and is done extremely effectively. Dave's drumming shines again here, with constant variations that enhance the power of each riff section.

The title track closes out the album in a way befitting its opening, with total relentlessness and a dedication to violence with precision. Rarely can an already-excellent band be said to improve substantially and in every regard on a subsequent release, but that is exactly why the brutal death metal scene has been so excited of late about this album. A masterpiece that capitalizes on a strong foundation and the exceptional talents of its cast, 'Ignominious Atonement' holds up to many repeated spins and will be considered one of the more influential albums in the genre before long.

Originally reviewed on Unspeakable Cults - KDVS 90.3 FM in Davis, California.

If you are reading this you probably know what to expect from a new Putridity release. While the band has had a clear evolution since their debut in 2007 ‘Mental Prolapse Induces Necrophilism’, they don’t move very far from the parameters and guidelines of the genre. So, what makes Putridity and this release so special? For me this is a unique album, it clicked right away even though it makes no sense 90% of the time. Still, I don’t think you should disregard any band for that reason as in this case, the unapproachable and demanding nature of the music is one of the main qualities of the genre.

Another positive point besides my personal infatuation with chaos, is the uniqueness of the production. I have never heard a wall of sound so controlled but still full of personality and malevolence. The guitar sound is compact and makes sense as a unitarian mass of sound. The drums are worth another review on their own; here we have again Davide “BrutalDave” Bilia giving a masterclass of creativity, stamina and speed, the same way he did last year in another pretty sick album: Septycal Gorge’s ‘Scourge of the Formless Breed’.

It is a shame that the band doesn’t slow down more like during “Dead Festering Drainage” at around 1:40, or “Mortifying Carnality”, one of my favorite tracks. The rest of the album even though it has moments here and there where the band gives you a minimal break, is mostly the most vile and brain melting experience I have heard in a long time. Some of the highlights in that group of grotesque tracks would be “Repugnance Enshrined in Deformity” or album opener “Conceived Through Vermination”, a track that is basically a pinch harmonic fest. This guitar technique is one of the main elements of the album and can be heard in most tracks like in the last Malignancy album, another brutal fest not to be missed.

I would say that this is the best Putridity album to date when it comes to the production, musicianship and songwriting. In those aspects, the band is untouchable in this genre. Just don’t let your inability to digest this album get in the way. Nobody liked beer the first time right?

Taken from: Evil Warnings.com ( www.evilwarnings.com/album-review-putridity-ignominious-atonement-2015-willowtip/ )