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Reviews
Supreme Brutality
San Diego's Pathology put a capital B in brutal on Incisions of Perverse Debauchery. The trio play deathgrind in the vein of Disgorge, Devourment and the likes. Since the debut Surgically Hacked the band has moved about in the ranks and made room for Disgorge vocalist Levi Fuselier. Musically Pathology doesn't do anything that you wouldn't already expect from the genre and just like Disgorge the band above all rely on the fast in the music, but Pathology have the musicianship to vary things so it doesn't end up being a undistinguishable blur of blastbeats and growls. This can be heard on tracks like "Pathogens of Cystic Decay" and "Lycanthropy of Dead Flesh", but all nine songs have their own violent appeal.
The production is fat and juicy, and that pushes Incisions of Perverse Debauchery even further. It benefits the music a lot that Pathology have found a sound that is heavy, crisp and where it's possible to hear what is going on. Incisions of Perverse Debauchery is in many ways a standard effort musically, but it's a convincing effort and that is the difference between this album and a lot else of what is put out today. If you like your music brutal, crushing and straight forward then Incisions of Perverse Debauchery could be the answer.
Grind On Webzine
In 2006, Pathology crashed onto the death metal scene with their first album, "Surgically Hacked". In 2008, the band is back again with another maniacal platter of medical deviance entitled "Incisions of Perverse Debauchery", which continues the brutality right where the first one left off.
The lowest of guttural roars, thick guitars, and chest pounding drums are mixed together to create a genius work of medical decadence. With the title track pummeling at the beginning of the album, it only signifies a sign of things to come. The second track entitled "Creation of Mass Destruction" continues the onslaught with insane guitar and bass riffage, and a jaw dropping vocal performance. Each track delivers a sufficient dose of lethal viciousness. The album continues to impress with the third track, "Blessed Through Suffering". Dave Astor's craftsmanship of the skins really bleeds through in this track, exhibiting amazing tightness and creativity. "Eviscerated Human Torso" offers brutality that is unparalleled, as well as an amazing display of vocal skills. The catchiness that the riffs have to offer in "Defiled Autopsy Remnants" is exceptional. The buzz saw attitude in "Reborn to Kill" is astonishing. The deeper you dwell into the album, the more obvious it is that Pathology is rewriting the book about what death metal should sound like. One of the band's chief examples of their musicianship lies within "Pathogens of Cystic Decay", a three minute long track of unrelenting bone carving viciousness. "Lycanthropy of Dead Flesh" has one of the catchiest intros that have been heard in recent history. The rest of the track ascends into musical greatness, obliterating the weak at heart. The growls become so low that they nearly blend in with the bass. The last song "Necrotic Prayers for Genocide" leaves the listener with a sense of accomplishment, after surviving the last thirty minutes of sheer devastation. What an amazing track to end with, as it leaves us with a promise that Pathology's third album will push the boundaries of extreme music even further.
So far Pathology's "Incisions of Perverse Debauchery" is my number one album of the year 2008. Everything you could ask for comes together to create an album seemingly ahead of its time. Aside from the music's total brilliance, the artwork that Pathology selected for the album is tremendous. So fitting for the album itself, the art spews forth a gorefilled hypocritical image of surgical depravity. The production is also mind-blowing. You can everything, the way it was intended to be heard. It offers substantial heaviness, but still manages to not blur all of the instruments together. The new album also offers great samples as well. If you haven't heard Pathology's latest attempt, you are seriously missing out on a piece metal prominence!!
Masterful Magazine
Demented brutal death metal like Mortician, Disgorge and Spain’s Christ Denied featuring past and present members of Disgorge and Cattle Decapitation. The three-way vocal interaction by Disgorge vocalist Levi Fuselier, former Cattle Decapitation drummer Dave Astor and guitarist/bassist Tim Tiszczenko is enjoyable but hardly revolutionary. The majority of the album is fast-paced death metal with thick riffing, varied drumming and tons of groove.
Pathology tends to wander in Devourment territory whenever they slow down a little. The threeway vocal assault is guttural at best. In delivery and execution this reminds a lot of the American Disgorge in its wielding of blunt force riffs, undecipherable vocals and primal grooves while conceptually this is more down the line of Mortician or (early) Carcass.
The lack of leads/solos and recognizable hooks isn’t really felt as the material much too savage in its primitive brutality. This follow-up to 2006’s “Surgically Hacked” comes with stunning artwork, design and lay-out by Mike Hrubovcak (Divine Rapture, Monstrosity, Vile) from Visual Darkness Design. If you like primitive death metal with demented clinical themes “Incisions Of Perverse Debauchery” will deliver what you expect.
Thrashocalypse
After quite enjoying Pathology's last release "Surgically Hacked", I was looking forward to their next release, which comes in the form of "Incisions Of Perverse Debauchery". The album kicks in with a symphonic/orchestral intro before blasting into the title track. This track is full of tight blasts and fast double kick work, razor sharp guitar riffs and insanely gutteral vocals. Structurally, things work quite well as usually with this kind of brutal death metal I get bored very easily, but Pathology are managing to keep my attention with rapid changes and intense speeds. The are 3 main things that really bother me with this cd though I have to say, and that is, firstly, the kick drum sounds, its very clicky and lacks the bass sound of a real bass drum. Secondly, the vocals, whilst very good and brutal, lack variation and tend to come off sounding rather monotone. The third thing is that, well, the guitar riffs are predominantly tremelo progressions, which, like the vocals, tend to get a tad boring. Nonetheless, Pathology have put together a solid release, with great production and good songs, as well as classy musicianship. If you're a fan of death metal, I really recommend checking this disc out as it is quite a worthy release, coupled with some stunning artwork.
Teufels Tomb
My first exposure to Pathology was with the tracks available on their MySpace from their debut Surgically Hacked. What I heard from those sample tracks bored me to tears and I erased the band from my mind. This was short lived when I discovered they had signed to Grindhead and had completed a second album. An acquaintance of mine who listened to ungodly amounts of brutal death metal suggested the record and I honestly took another peak back at their MySpace.
By God, the new materially didn’t outright suck! Oh joy, oh yay! Turns out the band went through some minor re-adjusting in the line up, and it obviously was for the better.
Pathology currently is comprised of basically the entirety of Being Killed. The difference between Being Killed and Pathology, though, is that Being Killed is a brutal death/grind two piece driven by a drum machine and Pathology is a more traditional brutal death metal act that has been fleshed out into a three piece, with Dave Astor (Being Killed’s bassist and vocalist) taking the place of the drum machine and Tim Tiszczenko handling guitars. The line-up is rounded out by vocalist Levi Fuselier, taking over vocal duties from Astor. Being Killed’s song writing focused more on the grind aesthetic of no-nonsense, get-in-get-out short song lengths and mindless blasting, whereas Pathology takes more of their time focusing on groove and fleshing out their compositions.
And the riffs on Incisions of Perverse Debauchery are a lot more interesting than what I initially sampled a year or so ago. They’re technically proficient and there are spots on some songs like "Blessed Through Suffering" where they almost achieve a Malignancy-esque wall of noise sound. For the most part though, they’re typical of the genre and while enjoyable are not too inventive. What really shines though is Dave Astor’s drumming. While Incisions of Perverse Debauchery starts out a bit bland in the percussion department, Astor quickly picks himself up by the boot straps and puts in some solid, enjoyable drumming. After hearing the above mentioned song and later tracks such as "Defiled Autopsy Remnants" one has to ask why the Hell they didn’t have Astor play drums with Being Killed. The drumming isn’t as spectacular as, say, Abuse’s Like a Virgin, but it is definitely enjoyable. As for Levi’s vocal performance, he does a good job at gurgling away while being surprisingly easy to follow compared to most brutal death metal vocalists using this style.
Incisions of Perverse Debauchery is definitely a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting. It’s not going to break any new ground any time soon, but it is a solid addition for most fans of brutal death metal. |
Cost: $15