Putrefied Corpse - Left to Rot

Putrefied Corpse

Left to Rot

by Kyle Scott at 03 April 2019, 9:51 AM

PUTREFIED CORPSE is disgusting. I mean this in the nicest possible way, honest. They are a Death Metal band after all and they show their unbridled, shambling rag covered in tatters and maggots in their debut Left to Rot. A sordid collection of eleven fetid soundscapes left just a little too long in a bad formaldehyde mixture. Bubbling blast beats bubble and boil over, radiating dissonant vibrating riffs slither underfoot, PUTREFIED CORPSE wants to sound like a nightmare and they succeed. Songs like "Sociopathic Monstrosity" and "Smashed to Pieces" evoke less-than-cheerful dispositions; attitudes that read 'Stay Away' in all caps and flashing red.

The appetite-killing "Cordon Blue of Her Curvaceous Body" is about exactly what it says it is. A killer beats his victim's face until tender and then rips it off to wrap cheese and parma ham inside of it before cooking it. It's equal parts hilarious and disturbing as all fuck. The fact that I can't find the line between the two has me very concerned… The raving howler monkey vocals featured on "Bloodbath" has me concerned that singer Bjorn van Toorn blew out his voice doing such. There are of course (a great) many things that concern me about PUTREFIED CORPSE.

Taking pages from CANNIBAL CORPSE's George "Corpsegrinder" Fischer, van Torrn sings with all the timber and grace of a sink garbage disposal grinding up kidneys. PUTREFIED CORPSE has learned well from old masters like OBITUARY, CATTLE DECAPITATION and AUTOPSY. Their sound billows and burbles like backed up sewage and they do what comes naturally to Death Metallers; playing riffs at brain liquifying speeds. For a first album, Left to Rot exceeds expectations. Then again, members of PUTREFIED CORPSE aren't new to the genre, having served well under bands like PHLEBOTOMIZED and DEATH SQUAD. PUTREFIED CORPSE have not been left out to spoil, yet.

Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Memorability: 7
Production: 10