Newcomers MUTILATE will be releasing their debut album, "Tormentium", June 29th, 2018 via Iron Bonehead Productions. This old school death metal outfit is based out of Ithica, N.Y. Having formed only about a year ago it's the best official release of what could be considered a decent demo tape. It is the best worst recording ever. The raw sound is very similar to AUTOPSYs first album. MUTILATE did modernize the old school, and at times, OBITUARY pace by adding in some odd time signatures and surprise transitions. There is some fast picking action enforced by a more thrashy style beat that isn't quite a blast but is fast, almost a crossover/hardcore drum style. The melody of one note at a time riffs create a black metal atmosphere, but the leads are insane and very close to the sound of SEPULTURA's "Schizophrenia."

"Tormentium", while not even an actual word is none the less an individual custom coined phrase and has only one flaw that just destroyed the entire song for me. It sounds like a post-production joke around the four-minute mark. The song is interrupted by a totally out of place scream. It's bad. Really bad. And loud. Such a shame as the song has so much potential. "Life in Pain" is the trophy-winning moment. Mostly due to its obscure breaks. The song starts out with a 5 note in unison succession similar to someone banging on a door. While I was expecting some serious groove to begin, I was wrong and greeted with an onslaught of blast beating, adrenaline pumping surge of aggression that would be a great soundtrack for "when animals attack" clips.

"Human Experimentation" is well named as this track has an independent direction from the rest on the album. Starting out with a medium level of technicality then laying back into a steady pace like old OBITUARY, as I mentioned earlier. The lead starts out ok, but unfortunately repeats and doesn't really go anywhere until it ends, and it does end well. The verses with that consistent and powerful grove just grinding away at the seeds of human recreation in an old rusty blender delivering the sweet suffering that only true death metal can depict. "Tormentium" captures a raw moment of bone grinding, temple throbbing, old school death metal. This is a metal time stamp from a band that you will undoubtedly be hearing from for years to come. While they can be repetitious and do have an obvious influence that has been done before. They did at least ad their own flare to it.

Here is the deal. You really have to look past the absolutely atrocious production value to see that actual potential. The vocal style paints a picture of some 7-foot tall 300lb monster ripping through a crowd with so much force his pushes and shoves cause limbs to fly and heads to roll. Imagine early SEPULTURA with more balls. The guitar sounds like a cheap miced practice amp and the drums, oh the drums. Whoever miced the drums needs to take a studio recording class. A lot of the drum skill and technique is really good. However, I doubt a lot of listeners are going to actually sit down and focus on them to hear it. It should just be properly recorded and easy to hear. It's a garage recorded demo at best. I truly hope this debut release being poorly recorded doesn't stick to MUTILATE and hold them back from giving them another listen with a better recording. For an old school sounding death metal band, these guys could really be a fan favorite. All the elements of good music are there. If you love it raw and have an ear, you'll hear it.