There's quite a big bunch of brutal death metal bands in Philippines. Anal Fissure, who started in 2007, are one of them perhaps lesser known acts. I'm glad they didn't use "anal crack"; fissure sounds so much more elegant, now doesn't it? Well, that's about the only elegant thing about them and this platter of splatter.

Okay, so brutal death metal it is. Hacking palm muting, sawing, and penetrating tremolo riffs with a hefty guitar tone are gory and... ummmm.. brutal. Yes. The drumming goes from stomping double kick drumming to blast beating frenzy on their own while the guitars continue churning out same stuff, but surely they also do joint action. The music has drive going on, but the catchiness is almost obsolete, and the band do not bring any fresh meat on the table here. There are a few notable riffs, but the songwriting is just poor. Same fluctuation of paces is utilized throughout the album and the songs, making it all a big chunk of "the same". I like the production which is raw and thick yet still the elements are discernible. It is powerful and warm, like freshly withdrawn blood, and at first bluffed me to think that there could be cool songs happening.

The vocals are brain-drilling human-pig chimera style grunting and growling, and really powerful at that. Yes, this is all well enough performed (except a few misplaced drum hits), and there's loads of energy put into performances, no doubt, but compositions-wise the band need to haul it back to the drawing board. I do not accept the claim "it's meant to be chaotic!" Fuck no, it's meant to provide listeners some good tunes, no matter it it's chaotic.

This can destroy, but it cannot do anything else, really. The lyrics are filled with witticism (a word I picked up in them), making me laugh in a positive way: "The creak and groan from the impotent filled the nugatory of darkness," or "I wait them to rotten and then picked and separate their bones from brain". Yep, this is a gory mess in the end.

Rating: 4- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/01/2022 18:44