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Yyrkoon: Occult medicine
07/02/11 || Daemonomania
Once again Daemo and IG form like Voltron into a single sperm-coated reviewing cyborg. If you manufactured an amalgamation of Robocop, the Terminator, and Wall E into one heap of metal, you still couldn’t top our compelling mix of killing and compassion. Batten your hatches and strap on your strap on’s, because here we come.
Daemonomania: Welcome back to the wonderful world of two-man coverage. Annoyed by this format yet? We don’t care. IG and I have chosen a real treat and one of my best finds of the last decade, Yyrkoon’s “Occult medicine”. This is the stuff that Herbert West’s death/thrash dreams are made of.
IG: “Occult Medicine” is melodic tech/thrash/death perfection. It takes a big steaming shit of ingested brains all over 99% of the shit that is coming out today six fucken years after it crawled out of the earth. It sounds great, it has a ton of interesting, distinct tunes, and it is about zombies. Touchdown.
Da Daep Ones: Not only about zombies, mind you, but about the wonderful “Reanimator” story and films. There’s more dicey grammar in the lyrics about his tricky and crazy experiments than a typical IG review, but the love for H.P. Lovecraft shines through anyway.
Intothegrave: And it shines the brightest on “Trapped into life”, a heavy beating that is mid to fast paced death metal perfection. If the beginning of that song does not make you get crazy, you are truly as dead as fucking dirt.
Daen of Iniquity: Whoah there buddy, no need to jump into favorite songs just yet (“Revenant horde” is way better). Let’s give the denizens of GD a bit of background first. I picked this based on a Metal Archives recommendation – always a risky move. It was awesome. A copy was eventually burned for IG all those many moons ago. As payment for bestowing such a sweet metal monument upon him, he rims the anus of my black cat to this day.
I’emxcited: That reminds me, I need more mouthwash. Anyway, it’s true that Daemo first hooked me up with The ‘Koon. After hearing this, I went and picked up “Unhealthy Opera” and have been in the Lovecraft hole ever since.
Daemo Does Daellas: Let’s talk production. In the French war of loudness, Yyrmomm struck a mighty blow back in 2004. Heavy as all hell, with guitars and drums threatening to crush the inexperienced listener. Stéphane Somethingfroggy’s vocals are also pumped up to the max. Having a sound loud enough to blow you outta your armchair certainly works in their favor.
Invadingryan’sprivates: Hell yeah, much like fellow Frenchies Gojira, Yyrkoon know how to make an album with punch. The guitars and drums are jacked up like a zombie on cheetah blood but manage to not overpower each other. All bad metaphors aside, this is as good a sounding, modern death metal record your bitch ears are going to hear.
Undaed: Production covered. Now let’s talk about individual performances. Growls are pretty standard low and brutal-luxe. Basswork is good and brought to the front more often than your average DM non-Pogg bassist. Just to get those two out of the way. What really strikes me the most about this disc are the dastardly death/thrash riffs juxtaposed with flighty, almost power-y melodic soloing. Of course this review couldn’t be complete without also mentioning the denture rattling performance of Mr. Dirk Verbeuren behind the kit.
Intombed: Yeah, the dual guitar harmonies that get busted out in the middle of “Censored project” and “Revenant horde” are beastly, like Iron Maiden beastly. Yyrkoon know the quality of a solid, cheddar cheesy solos and they spread them all over “Occult Medicine” with grace and skill. Verbeuren does indeed dominate the drums. He blasts away with precision but does not overdo it, his footwork is outstanding, and he knows how to lay into the groove that me and Daemo so dearly love. Check out the title track for a lesson in mid-paced, but still technical, drumming awesomeness.
D Grade Meat Products: I think we’re safely in favorite song mode. For me there are a few inconsistent tracks, but the trio that always get me coming back for more are “Revenant horde”, “Surgical distortion” and “Schyzophrenic carnage”. The end of “Horde” is hugely orgasmic, and the meanspirited family-murdering grove of zis late-album dynamic duo aforementioned gets my spine all discombobulated.
Inspectformaggots: Oh hell yeah, “Revenant horde” is a go-to favorite that takes it to break down city like four times. There are no bad songs on here at all, only a few that are not so memorable like the opener. “Occult Medicine” is chock full of quality.
InDaeed: Yeah, there’s a couple I give the skips to, but the winners shall NEVER DIE, in the immortal words of Yngwie. These two-dude reviews are a little weird when there’s no Class 6SuckDix format, right? Open-ended, and not in the barking starfish way. Well, I guess we’re about done then. Great songs, classy concept, skilled execution, and a world-class production job – I can safely say “Occult medicine” stands high in the Master’s Circle of modern death/thrash along with “Issue VI”, “Riders of the apocalypse”, and something else IG will know.
Impact: “Occult Medicine” is the tits when it comes to thrashy death, or deathy thrash even. It is supremely underrated and with Yyrkoon on ice, just like Chtulu at the bottom of the ocean, I doubt this gem will ever get the full credit it deserves. Personally, I like doing double duty without the confines of the Class 6(66) format. Fuck society’s rules, men should be able to do whatever they want with other consenting, adult men. I mean, this is Massachuttes right? No, wait….
Indaescribably Gay: Same-sex marriage has been legal in R’lyeh since the dawn of time. Well, I think that’s enough brodeoism and Yyrkoon worship for one day. If you have any interest in getting mauled by an unnameable beast from beyond and then stitched back together by a mad doctor, “Occult medicine” is the way to go. Anything to add, my fuzzy compatriot?
In the closet, still: Yes! There is no one better to seal the eternal bromantic deal than Dagon. I’m in. As for music, “Occult Medicine” is a fantastic death metal record and needs to be in the collection of anyone who enjoys it hot and heavy. Like us.
- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: Osmose
- Website: www.yyrkoon.net
- Band
- Stéphane Souteryand: vocals, guitars
- Geoffrey Gautier: guitars
- Voctproen Vilchez: bass
- Dirk Verbeuren: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Intro
- 02. Doctor X
- 03. Censored Project
- 04. Blasphemy
- 05. Occult Medicine
- 06. Revenant Horde
- 07. Reversed World
- 08. Trapped Into Life
- 09. Surgical Distortion
- 10. Schyzophrenic Carnage
- 11. Erase the Past
