In the North American Death Metal scene, it’s common to have many names being said as important as DEATH, POSSESSED, MASSACRE, MASTER and other forefathers. It’s fair to say that names as MORBID ANGEL, OBITUARY, DEICIDE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, SUFFOCATION (it’s boring to use so many ‘ations’, you know) and some others; but sometimes, the importance of acts as REPULSION, DECEASED, AUTOPSY, EXHUMED, and some others to the genre seems to be forgotten by fans and writers. Their influences transcend time, and can be found in many acts today, as on “Anthropogenic Ruin”, the first album of the North American quintet BACTERIAL HUSK (from Boston, Massachusetts), a sickening and disturbing release on Death Metal. In reality, their music can be described as a technical and aggressive mix between influences of Death Metal and Grindcore in an Old School sense (so some riffing inherited from Thrash Metal can be heard as well).

In other words, they’re into a tendency that resembles what the crossing of Death Metal and Grindcore used on the 90s (but in a personal form, mind you). It’s fast, aggressive, with screamed tunes on vocals contrasting with guttural grunts, and always with a very good technical work, sometimes depicting influences inherited from Thrash Metal and Crossover (as heard on some riffing during “Corrupted Hydrosphere”). Lyrically - it’s important to point to this aspect -, they’re into the same tendency of CATTLE DECAPITATION on “Death Atlas” and “Terrasite”, or being clear, they denounce the evil deeds of human race against the nature’s environment, and the price the human race will have to pay soon. It’s a very good work for such young act. Joey Adams worked on the production, recordings and mixing of “Anthropogenic Ruin” (only the drums were recorded by Ben Rodgers), with Dave Otero taking care of the mastering. It seems that the main idea was to have a sonority that could cross the crude filthy approach of the past with the definition and strength of modern technologies, so it can reach Old School Death Metal and Death Metal fans in the same way. Oh, by the way, Mark Richards (the band’s former guitarist/vocalist) appears on some additional vocals; and Matt Stikker (artwork) and Evan Duplessis (design, layout) did a great work as well.

“Spores of Hallucinosis” (with disgusting-tuned guitar riffs and brutal contrasts on the rhythms), “Flayed by Anomalies” (an energy that can explode the VU meters of your devices, with excellent contrasts between grunts and screams), “Corrupted Hydrosphere” (some disturbing slow ambiences oppresses the ears and minds before exploding on fast tempos with shrieking snarls laying under a heavy artillery of bass guitar and drums), “Enshrined Gravitational Aberration” (where some Progressive Death Metal touches can be heard due the technical appeal of the song), “Umbilical Sewage” (with focus on many slow paced rhythms and technical arrangements), “Mystics of Transmutation” (with sharp drilling guitars and excellent blast beats), and “Starving the Immortal” are the one you must hear at any cost, and enjoy, because this offering is truly excellent! Yes, it’s that kind of album defined as ‘must have’, the first album that offers more than the expected.

If you’re an addicted to Death Metal tendencies, “Anthropogenic Ruin” is the kind of album you must have at any cost, and BACTERIAL HUSK is a name you must know!