Amputate
Abysmal Ascent – Massacre Records
When a band is called Amputate it gives a good indication of what they’re about; it’s a name that should conjure images of an honest, old school death metal band serving up a brutal, blood-soaked brand of gore and that’s precisely what this Swiss-based crew dish up. Over the course of ten punishing tracks, Amputate deliver a musical pummelling that offers little in the way of redemption. After the experimental nature of their last long player, the band’s third album, Abysmal Ascent, finds them stripping back their sound to deliver an aural assault that should really come with a health warning. From the very first note (and I mean the first note) Amputate place their collective feet on the listener’s neck and keep it there for the next 35-minutes. Yet, don’t mistake their swirling tempest of a sound for sonic thuggery; in terms of song structure and lyricism Abysmal Ascent avoids the usual tropes and throws up a plethora of surprises, and no more so than the hardcore blast of closer ‘Perpetuum’. But make no mistake, this is a pure, unadulterated death metal album and is just what the doctor ordered.
Review By Peter Dennis