RECORRUPTOR are a Death Metal band from Michigan, USA. Formed in 2013, they recorded a demo in 2016 followed by their debut album "Bloodmoon" in 2017. "The Funeral Corridor" is their sophomore album, released in August 2020, accompanied by promotional singles for "Moribund", "Tormented Egress" and "Souls of Limbo". RECORRUPTOR play a kind of Melodic Death Metal that has some fundamental Deathcore influences, especially in the rhythm department. There are also touches of melodic Black Metal influence throughout the album.

The title track opens the album with a short atmospheric intro, interrupted by harsh screams and intense guitar-and-drum-roll combo. This explodes into a traditional Death Metal riff, blasting drums and a range of vocals from mid-low growls to higher, Dani Filth-like shrieks. "The Funeral Corridor" alternates between speedy Death Metal sections and groovier breaks. The song then evolves into a thrashy, mid-paced, building stomp and eventually erupts into a finishing blast complete with melodic guitar solos. There are twitchy technical guitar flourishes, tons of drum rolls, some breakdown-like rhythm sections (accompanied by melodic riffs) - a lot is packed into one song.

"Tormented Egress" follows with fast, intense, Brutal Death Metal-style blast beat drumming. The song reminds me of BEHEMOTH at times, if they met with a bit of mid-to-late 2000s Deathcore ala JOB FOR A COWBOY. This song is on the longer side, and while it contains some great sections and strong riffs, there are a couple of more noodly parts that could have been trimmed out to the benefit of the overall composition. This happens a few times throughout the album, but I'll return to it later.

"Tormented Egress" is followed by another single, "Souls of Limbo", a fast, pummelling Death Metal track with some great lead guitars and solos at its climax. The guitars are sometimes mixed a little underwhelmingly, but the lead solos do shine. "Blessed Obsession" returns to a more old school vibe with an opening riff that could have come from an old DEATH album, but modernises quickly with ultra-fast, clicky drumming and screechy, Filth-esque cries. This song gets incredibly fast in parts, bordering on Deathgrind for a few moments.

As you might have noticed, there is quite a mixing pot of styles present on "The Funeral Corridor". Old school Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal/Deathcore, Melodeath, Black Metal, Grind...there are Black Metal cries, Death Metal grunts, blast beats, breakdowns, melodic flourishes, Heavy Metal guitar solos. A lot is packed into this album, I would say for better and for worse. RECORRUPTOR bring a lot of good ideas to the table, but I feel like the album could have done with some editing/trimming. As packed as each composition is with good ideas, there is the occasional section that wanders, without any real direction. Sometimes it feels like they exist solely to pad the track out, which is completely unnecessary as the songs might be even stronger if they were a little more to the point and the band didn't feel like they had to pack so many riffs into one song. It can sometimes feel a little riff salad-ish and at worst, like a riff slideshow.

This is not always the case. "Moribund" is the shortest track on the album, and is more focused as a result. It feels centered on a smaller set of melodies that all of the variations are based around. Other songs use their length to their advantage - "Watchful Eyes in the Temple" climbs up section by section as tension is built and released. "Bestow On Me Pure Death" is a lengthy track that has some of the song's best riffs, with one mournful, melodic riff being particularly strong. All of the songs on the album are on the longer side with only one track dropping below five minutes long, but I feel like there are some sections that could be removed or tweaked to make the songs more concise.

The album would be stronger if it was about ten minutes shorter, I think. There is a good forty minutes of strong ideas and five to ten minutes of material that doesn't live up to the standard of the rest, and it's not a question of weaker songs but weaker sections. I think that if the songs were a little tighter and more direct, the music would improve a great deal. I also find the production underwhelming at times. The high-end guitar solos sound good, but the bottom end doesn't feel very heavy and it sometimes robs the "breakdown" type sections of some of their potential power. But overall I'd say 'The Funeral Corridor' is a good album with lots of strong ideas and stellar musicianship, marred by some weaker sections and a production job that could be stronger.