### Ripping Corpse: Demo 1992

#### 03/01/11 || Habakuk

Ripping Corpse, eh? Hey, “Dreaming with the dead” made it into our Top 100 of the 80s in a very, very prominent spot. They never made it into the top tier of death metal, but they definitely had a sound of their own during their short lifespan. Anyway, their label went bankrupt, so the guys finished this demo on their own to get another deal. Actually, they produced another album that never saw its final stage and can be found online, just without vocals. Apparently, that whole plan didn’t work so well. It’s a cold world out there.

This demo serves us three high quality works of chugging, groovy death metal with a sinister atmosphere – as a result it doesn’t really matter that the production isn’t exactly high class. At least everything’s discernible, and the sound is quite close to “Dreaming with the dead”, with hollow-sounding drums, a bit of trebly bass, scraping guitars and solos that can be occasionally followed wandering into clean and orientalic-sounding scales. It’s Erik Rutan, after all.

Now don’t get deterred because that sounds artsy-fartsy. As skillfully as the songs may be crafted, this is still full-on death metal. One could say it was done “with a twist”, but that’s a) gay and b) an easy cop-out, just because no other band I know sounds like Ripping Corpse – Morbid Angel on “Blessed are the sick” could probably be used for comparison, but it’s not quite the same. Ripping Corpse’s sound has a couple more of that twisted little something to it, some facets that need more than just one listen for full impact. The drums don’t simply follow your usual death metal patterns, the guitars take the distorted melodies thing a step further and the band incorporate unconventional pauses into their songs, purposefully breaking the flow.

An implication of all this is that – as interesting as it is – this material definitely requires some attentive listening without exactly being “technical” …on second thought, no wonder they never made it big. Definitely not an easy band to get into. And in case this sounds a bit too sniffy, in all honesty, I don’t find myself listening through their stuff very often. It’s a bit of a shame, given the quality at hand, but can’t be helped.

What it comes down to: For those who liked “Dreaming with the dead”, this demo here is a safe bet. Progression is limited and all the old qualities are still present. On the other hand, those looking for a quick old school death metal snack had better skip this whole band for the time being. And those yet unfamiliar but willing to sink their teeth into a bit of different old school death, get “Dreaming…” and consider this a free extra bonus. Ch-Ching!!

- Information
- Released: 1992
- Website: Ripping Corpse MySpace
- Band
- Scott Ruth: vocals
- Erik Rutan: guitars
- Shaune Kelley: guitars
- Scot Hornick: bass
- Brandon Thomas: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Morbid fascination
- 02. The hate eternal
- 03. Last and only son