By the mid-1990’s death metal was at a low ebb. Many bands of the first wave had moved onto new pastures, while others started to incorporate strange influences, changing the familiar sound into something new. However, a rebirth was fermenting, and in the most unlikely of places; the sunny climes of Spain. Formed in Madrid in 1991, Avulsed arrived with a sound that took the genre back to its roots, and led the charge in bringing death metal to a whole new generation. Releasing some of the decade’s best music, Vomiting Corpses: The ‘90s Regurgitations makes the perfect introduction to one of the scenes most enduring, and respected, bands.
Disc One: Eminence In Putrescence (1996)
Rarely in the world of death metal has a debut album arrived as fully formed as Eminence In Putrescence. Of course, many of these tracks had been honed on demos and on stage, but even so, ‘Hidden Perversions’ is the perfect mission statement. From the guitar tone to the relentless drumming to Dave Rotten’s corpse-like vocals, everything is just right and ensures that Avulsed grab your attention right from the get go. This is exactly was how death metal was meant to sound; like stumbling upon a partly-dismembered, blood-soaked body, this isn’t pretty, but it was never meant to be. Tapping into a similar aesthetic as Cannibal Corpse, titles such as ‘Sweet Lobotomy’ and ‘Powdered Flesh’ should tell you all you need to know, and prove to be as gory as their names suggest. The great thing about Avulsed is that they aren’t afraid to mix things up and there’s plenty of time and tempo changes on offer, meaning that this album isn’t one long blastbeat, rather it ebbs and flows perfectly, holding your attention over 40 brutal minutes. A cover of Baron Rojo’s ‘Resistiré’ veers into Motörhead territory (which is a good thing) and brought the album to a cataclysmic conclusion. A rough version of ‘Addicted To Carrion’ is added as a bonus track and will only enhance the album’s standing.
Disc Two: Cybergore (1998)
One of the biggest attractions of death metal was its timeless quality; it existed outside of popular culture, and cared not one iota for prevailing fads and trends. Death metal was a hermetically sealed genre that was impervious to external influence, therefore it was somewhat perplexing when Avulsed embraced modernism for their remix album, Cybergore. Housed in a sleeve that featured a zoomed in picture of a macrobiotic life form and ‘90s futuristic font, this looks like the kind of album that Pitchshifter would release, and it sounds like it, too. I imagine that Avulsed took their cues from Fear Factory’s Demanufacture album, but whereas Fear Factory had an industrial sound that leant itself well to remixing, Avulsed didn’t. Most metal fans were unfamiliar with the brand of techno employed here, and with the drums, guitars and vocals subdued, Cybergore feels like an unsatisfying listen. Cybergore was a brave move that could have worked, but it didn’t.
Disc Three: Stabwound Orgasm (1999)
After the experimental Cybergore, the following year found Avulsed back on familiar ground, and in some style. The band’s veering into techno could easily have lost them their fanbase, but those who stayed loyal were rewarded with the career (and genre) defining Stabwound Orgasm. With a suitably sick sleeve, this album promised lots of dark delights and it delivered in spades. An other-worldly instrumental sets an ethereal tone with guitars intertwining in a classical fashion, it also provides contrast for the title-track which follows with force and topples over us like a ton of bricks. Recorded at the (in)famous Spacelab Studios, Kempen, Germany, this album benefits from a full, layered production, yet it still manages to retain a nice gritty feel. This means that cuts such as ‘Compulsive Hater’ attack on several levels: each instrument is separated and given room to breathe, making every drum beat a kick in the guts and every chord a knife at the throat. It’s obvious that these songs have undergone some judicial pruning and every note is made to count; there’s no flesh on the bones here (and if there was, Avulsed would chop it off). It’s obvious why Stabwound Orgasm is often viewed as the pinnacle in the Avulsed discography, and the only way this album could be improved is with some choice bonus cuts, and that’s what is served up here with a brutal versions of Carcass’ ‘Embryonic Necropsy And Devourment’ and Sodom’s ‘Magic Dragon’ slicing deepest.
Disc Four: Carnivoracity (1994)
After a string of demos and split releases, 1994 found Avulsed releasing their first EP and Carnivoracity made the world sit up and take notice. You have to admire the band’s chutzpah in making the eight-and-a-half-minute title-track the opening cut, but it was a decision that worked rather well. Despite its length, it doesn’t feel at all forced and it evolves like some strange organic entity. This disc replicates the 1995 cassette version of the EP and includes eight live tracks. It is an intriguing document on several levels; firstly, it illustrates what a savage beast Avulsed became when they hit the stage, but more importantly, it exposes some of the band’s influences in the choice of cover versions. Pentagram Chile (‘Demoniac Possession’), Demigod (‘As I Behold, I Despise’) and Brujeria (‘Matando Gueros’) all get the Avulsed treatment, and it is to their credit that their own songs don’t seem out of place amongst such illustrious company.
Avulsed are still terrorising listeners to this very day, and apart from the odd misstep (i.e. Cybergore) they’ve released strong album after strong album, and if you want to experience so of their very best, Vomiting Corpses: The ‘90s Regurgitations is just the ticket.
- Vomiting Corpses: The ‘90s Regurgitations is released via Cherry Red Records/Dissonance on 29th September 2023.
- Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube / Official Website / X / Spotify
Track List:
Disc One: Eminence In Putrescence (1996)
- Hidden Perversions
- Sweet Lobotomy
- Powdered Flesh
- Goreality
- Gangrened Divine Stigma
- Frozen Meat
- Ecstasy For Decayed Chunks
- Killing Astral Projections
- Bodily Ransack
- Resistiré (Baron Rojo Cover)
- Addicted to Carrion (Unreleased Rough Mix) *
* Bonus Track
Disc Two: Cybergore (1988)
- Frozen Beat
- Addicted To Red Bull
- Sweet Bakalaotomy
- Hash-Perversions
- Powdered Fish
- Petisuis Lobotomy
- Gorroneality
- Pastivoracity (Frozen Speed)
- Beyond Monotony
- Emixnence In Popurrence
- Stabwound Orgasm (Reanimated By Zardonic) *
* Bonus Track
Disc Three: Stabwound Orgasm (1999)
- Amidst The Macabre (Instrumental)
- Stabwound Orgasm
- Blessed By Gore
- Compulsive Hater
- Eminence In Putrescence
- Exorcismo Vaginal
- Anthro-Pet-Phagus
- Homeless Necrophile
- Nice Rotting Eyes
- Skinless
- Coprotherapy
- Virtual Massacre
- Embryonic Necropsy And Devourment (Carcass Cover) *
- Magic Dragon (Sodom Cover) *
- Sweet Lobotomy (Live, Sala Caracol, Madrid, 24/05/1997) *
- Powdered Flesh (Live, Sala Caracol, Madrid, 24/05/1997) *
- Skinless (Studio, 1997) *
* Bonus Tracks
Disc Four: Carnivoracity (1994)
- Carnivoracity
- Cardle Of Bones
- Demoniac Possession (Pentagram Chile Cover)
- Morgue Defilement *
- Bodily Ransack *
- As I Behold, I Despise (Demigod Cover) *
- Gangrened Divine Stigma *
- Cradle Of Bones *
- Deformed Beyond Belief *
- Carnivoracity *
- Matando Gueros (Brujeria Cover) *
- Outro *
* Live Versions
