The Moshville Times - Review: Putrid Offal

[avatar =”Mosh” size=”50″ align=”left” /]You can take one look at the album sleeve and title and know what you’re going to get with this one. Staggeringly, given that the band have been together for 25 years and released a pile of EPs, Mature Necropsy is Putrid Offal’s debut album.

What we have here is thirteen tracks of filth, disturbing imagery and the goriest of gore-grind. The first obvious comparison is to the Carcass of old, but Putrid Offal are very much not a cheap French knock-off of the Scouse original. A tweak in the sound here and there (choral backing vocals on “Garroting Way”, for instance) shows an original take on the genre. I’d also say that Putrid Offal manage a slightly darker and more experimental sound in places – indeed the promo blurb brands then as “Death Metal / Grindcore” and while they’re primarily the latter, there’s no doubting the influence of the former.

All of the songs have previously been released on EPs, but Mature Necropsy consists of original, new recordings making use of the band’s extra years of experience as well as modern production techniques. There is an accompanying CD/digital release (which I’ve not had a chance to listen to as yet) called Premature Necropsy which contains remastered (rather than re-recorded) versions of all their material from the 1990’s.

While these aren’t new songs, the production is spot on and every track is ridiculously heavy. You can almost see drips of phlegm oozing from your speakers during the intro to “From Plasma to Embalming” – probably the best track on the album. Vocals are harsh and gargled, drums are beaten to within an inch of their lives and the strings are pummelled by all involved. Hell, there’s not an instrument played on this album – they’re all being punished.

Yes, you can consider me impressed. Mature Necropsy is a warm-up, I gather, for the band before working on genuine new material. I for one can’t wait. Release date is 9th February.