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Album Review

written by: Jeremy
Morse

6.9

I was introduced to Spanish death metal act
Avulsed by former Metal Review writer Chris
Sessions, in a forum discussion we had some years ago.  I questioned
whether an album with a title as absurd as Stabwound
Orgasm could contain music that would appeal to a “serious death
metal aficionado” (read: elitist prick) such as myself.  Sessions replied,
quite simply:  “I like it.”  Respecting Chris’s opinion as I did, that
was all the endorsement that I needed to give the album a shot.  Although
the album cover gave every indication that Avulsed was going to
be another mediocre gore band, and certainly there was much gurgling,
gore-spattered death metal to be found within, Avulsed proved
to have quite a keen sense of melody, that set them apart from their
peers.  It seemed that Sessions had not steered me wrong, as I found the
album to be quite enjoyable.

At some point in the intervening years
Avulsed fell off my radar.  So, when the band’s latest
album, Nullo (The Pleasure of Self Mutilation), popped
up in our review queue, I took the opportunity to re-acquaint myself with their
work.  It seems little has changed in the Avulsed
camp.  Avulsed plays a fairly simple, traditional style of
death metal; double bass, blast beats, tremolo picking, pinch harmonics, and all
the other standard death metal elements are present.  Early
Cannibal Corpse would be an obvious reference point,
particularly in the vocal department.  Singer, Dave Rotten, uses an ultra
deep guttural, Chris Barnes-like growl to spew out lyrics that, judging from the
song titles ("Maggotfilled," "Breaking Hymens," "Fair Flesh Obsession"), I am
probably glad I cannot understand.  On the instrumental side, however, the
band has a subtle European death metal influence.  The songs tend to be a
little rougher around the edges, with a little more emphasis on melody rather
than on speed and rhythm.

Unfortunately, for Avulsed,
there is a fine line between classic and dated, and on
Nullo, Avulsed is sounding a little
tired.  While the band’s trademark melodies still crop up, they are not a
strong enough presence to redeem death metal that is sounding decidedly
run-of-the-mill.  It is a struggle to come up with something noteworthy to
expound upon.  The album has its moments: “Foetal Consolation” has a catchy
harmonized interlude, “Maggotfilled” features a riff with an interesting
rhythmic hitch, and “Voracious Backpacker” features a memorable squealing
harmonic riff, but these are all fleeting bits of music that catch the ear in
passing.  The songs as a whole fail to really capture one’s
attention.

Nullo’s most memorable
moments, sadly enough, come from the covers of Exodus’s
“Piranha,” and Wasp’s “I Wanna Be Somebody” included at the end
of the album, and they are memorable more for novelty’s sake, than for the
quality of the arrangements.  The "Piranha” cover succeeds largely because
it is a great song and Avulsed does not mess with it too
much.  “I Wanna Be Somebody” does not fair as well, as the death vocals rob
the track of some of the necessary
dynamics.

Nullo is a serviceable death metal
album; it sounds fine while it is playing, but it lacks that certain spark that
will make me pull it off the shelf very often.  To hear
Avulsed in top form, I recommend checking out
Stabwound Orgasm or Yearning for the
Grotesque.  Nullo, unfortunately,
is a few corpses short of a massacre.

Published on
10/21/2009

americannibal | posted on 10/2009 | Reply

SO and Yearning are considered classics in my
catalog, but I fear I may be becoming dated myself. I haven't heard Nullo yet,
but if I had an expectation of it, Jeremy nailed it in the review. I'll
definitely pick it up and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Good review.

Avulsed
Nullo (The Pleasure Of Self-Mutilation)

Ibex Moon
Records
Release Date: 11/10/2009

Death

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