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Visceral Bleeding: Remnants of deprivation

11/05/07 || The Duff

Holy fucking shitstains, Visceral Bleeding used to be an amazing band! Stop the fucken presses, and start rubbing yer penises. I was introduced to this band via “Transcend Into Ferocity”, and even saw the guys tour for said album; it’s a solid piece of death metal, no question, but “Remnants of Deprivation” just seems so much more invigorating an experience. The band’s latest release (which I’ve now been waiting well over five months for to be delivered by Neurotic Records), “Absorbing the Disarray”, simply doesn’t cut it, making these guys currently over-hyped, and probably the weakest band on the Neurotic roster (haven’t heard a couple of ‘em, such as Arsebreed and Prostitute Disfigurement – of all things, the monikers put me off), in no way does it even hint towards the genius that this band once possessed.

I suppose one of my chief gripes with the latest album is that the production is too reedy, and the overall sound lacking a lot of punch as a result, as much as I think the music to be ranging between the mediocre/unfocused and completely fucken pointless, I still believe that a great majority of “Absorbing the Disarray” could be improved if the guitars were rendered beefier.

This album doesn’t suffer from such a setback at all (I’m actually reviewing the re-issue, “Remnants Revived”, which sounds louder, heavier and much clearer than the original), as the guitar tone cuts through with a much needed level of crunch. However, what definitely sets this album apart from later efforts is that it actually has some fucken amazing riffs of which to speak, and isn’t so much crammed with complex time signatures and widdly-bits galore.

Now, a lot of these riffs are chug-chug-chug, as the guys definitely enjoyed writing their material filled with stop-start riffing back in the day. Another great chunk of this album comprises simple enough breakdowns the likes of which you’ve all heard before from a million-and-one other bands (this was released at a time where breakdowns consisting of the first four frets could still be played without people branding you as copycat bitches).

Unlike “Absorbing the Disarray”, this here is a band writing from its influences (and making it bloody obvious), and not so much trying to forge its own sound. What this earlier incarnation of the band has though is actual songs that are heavy, technical (the complex guitar-work is used in moderation, and therefore made far more palatable than on later releases), memorable and, most important of all, real fucken fun to listen to.

What’s more, they actually have pinch harmonics that add something to the composition, they don’t inundate their material with poorly executed pinch-harmonics that bring absolutely nothing to the table, and act simply to grate the nerves and ruin a whole fucken album’s worth of material!

They also seem to have a different drummer at the helm, although I may enjoy and praise to some extent Tobbe Persson’s (the band’s current drummer) style, Niklas Dewerud is simply ten times the player, both in execution and in terms of how interesting his technique is, and as such makes “Remnants of Deprivation” just that much tastier than later offerings.

Most technical death albums usually take me some time to fully grasp, because most of the bands playing the sub-genre attempt to fit more material into one song than Metallica manage in an eighty minute, return-to-form masterpiece. It’s usually a case of dissecting what’s on offer, separating what is musically interesting and technical from what is musically dull and masturbatory, and choosing my purchases from there. This album instantly grabbed me by the throat, because at least half of the material comprises memorable, killer riffing, this is more straightforward than most tech death of today, but the nutty widdly bits are still there, so you are still getting pretty much what you paid for, just with less originality and better composed tracks than what this band churns out nowadays – a fair trade where the listener comes out on top, if you ask me.

8 wishes that this band would return to their glory days out of 10.

Information
Released: 2002
Label: Neurotic Records
Website: www.visceralbleeding.com
Band
Dennis Rondum: vocals
Peter Persson: guitars
Niklas Dewerud: drums
Calle Löfgren: bass
Marcus Nilsson: guitars

Tracklist
01.Spreader of decease (Burn the bitch)
02. Carved down to the bone
03. Gasping…
04. Remnants of deprivation
05. State of putrefaction
06. To disgrace condemned
07. Time to retaliate
08. Butcher knife impalement
09. Exposive surgery

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