Sunday, January 26, 2014

HAEMORRHAGE - Apology for Pathology (2006)

For Sick Pathologists Only


At the beginning I declare one thing: this is absolutely the best front cover of Haemorrhage! Only two colors, band logo and title of the album, really great idea, this cross composition reminds me of Polish Red Cross which is old humanitarian organization established in 1919. Appetite comes with eating, so let’s take a look at the content.

This is fifth full length album of these sick Spaniards and of course I don’t expect any humaneness. The question: is the best release of the band? It is very hard to answer. The style is still the same from their bettermost (in my opinion of course) “Anatomical Inferno”. There they defined the style which consists of old Carcass influences and their own identity and unquestionable metal quality. As compared to the previous album “Morgue Sweet Home”, here we have better production for sure. The sound of guitars and bass really crushes listener senses, the power is extreme and blowing down. All vocals also have great production. I didn’t write about drums… yes, again I enounce that this instrument must be recorded clearly and audibly. Of course double bass didn’t disappear during raging blasts and vocals, but drum is hearable (nonetheless the sound realization isn’t good) only when band slows down and vocals ‘rest’. Now, after many listening to it, I am accustomed to such production of this album and I can say that “Apology for Pathology” is like a scalpel in Dr. Obnoxious hands. It slices and shreds tissues of listener, organs are ready to be mutilated, blood started to appear… Yes, it means that first song “Posthumous Predation” emerges from disgorging innards…

First track opens with twenty seconds lasting sinister intro. Then thirty seconds of mid-tempo turns into total devastation. After almost three minutes (look, this is very long track he, he…) song ends and goes into “Feasting on Purulence” with wonderful ending. All right, I think there is no need to describe each song from the album. For sure I would like to mention about many guitar solos in “Frenzied Genital Carbonization”, “Edible Necrectomy”, “Surgical Extravaganza” with marching slow tunes on the beginning, after almost two minutes it turns into gore grind hurricane with two guitar leads, one short, but the second lasts twenty seconds (!). Luisma performs also leads in two last “Syndicate of Sickness” and the title track “Apology for Pathology”. Haemorrhage effectively kills boredom, these 33 minutes of madness run very fast, musicians show many tempo changes, fine, memorable and catchy guitar riffs, while Lugubrious vocals are the result of insane shrieks, screams, guttural vomits and other totally deformed vo-kills. I am really impressed.

Some words I have to write about the last track. Look at the running time: 8:56. This monster consists of two parts divided by one minute of silence. First one is the correct track opened by some slow fragments and after 60 seconds it turns into sonic annihilation. Interesting things appear about 2:50 when I can hear sounds of contrabass (?!!) with completely distorted, barbarous and inhuman vocals, heavy guitars and solo lead. Truly amazing, but after it, there is a minute of silence and hidden track arises. It is a cover of Venom’s “Satanachist” which becomes something special… Yes, you have to listen to it and you will surely reveal the secret he, he… As the band stated in the booklet, it was… sickly destroyed. It is not a lie, believe me…

These 33 minutes of pure pathological gore grind is like a fresh air in fuggy mortuary. There is no unpleasant surprise, there is no change of style (like Carcass…), however I can see some progress (esp. powerful production). The next full length is released this year after six long years. I am sure that following ‘beautiful’ tunes will feed my thirsty tissues and organs once again. The essence is given in “Syndicate of Sickness” song: “…depraved morticians, insane pathologists, forensic delinquents – the elite of pathology”. So let the edible necrectomy begin!

95/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli

(previously written for Encyclopaedia Metallum, on July, 2011, now modified a bit)

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