Grotesque - Museum of Human Disease   

A great debut from a promising band

Well hasn’t Western Australia swiftly become the seething hotbed of Australian metal lately? Our western comrades can now safely add one more notch to their belt with the debut release from brutal death metal band Grotesque.

Museum Of Human Disease is a surprisingly polished debut album from the fledgling four piece whose core sound comprises a mix of brutal and technical death metal. It is a flurry of shifting riffs, pummelling drums, and guttural vocals - much like any other brutal death metal album you might observe, and this is quite true, but the quality of the material on this album speaks for itself.

Often there isn’t a lot to differentiate the multitude of bands in this sub genre, but in the case of Grotesque their hook is that a mammoth proportion of the guitar work is centred around highly accurate sweep picking riffs. To be honest, this isn’t something that I would have considered particularly appropriate to the brutal death metal genre before hearing it, but now that I have my fears have been allayed because it actually works extremely well for the band and adds an element of originality to the album.

The technical prowess of each member of the band is clearly visible on every moment of this album. Each song seamlessly blends chopping and changing riffs with plenty of rhythmic change-ups thrown in for good measure. For a debut release it is remarkably tight and coherent and thus offers perhaps a slight glimpse into what heights the band may be able to reach later on in the future.

As far as the sound is concerned, I would have preferred that the album had a little more bottom end to it. It certainly doesn’t come across overly weak or anything like that but it could have done with some more bass to really give it a solid punch. That aside, the production is fantastically clear and is mixed extremely well.

It’s a positive sign when the only thing about an album to criticise is its sound, and truthfully, that’s the only negative thing I can say here. The band have nailed the music in their chosen field and have turned out a hugely enjoyable debut album.

(Prime Cuts Music/MGM Distribution)

Added: May 20th 2008
Reviewer: Michael O’Brien
Score:
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