SUICIDAL CAUSTICITY is a brutal death metal band from Italy.  Italy is a hot bed for this genre; the country also lays claim to such acts as FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE and HOUR OF PENANCE, to name but a few.  As a (somewhat) new comer, I can safely say that SUICIDAL CAUSTICITY definitely earns its place among these other premier bands.  They eschew the symphonic textures of FLESHGOD and they are somehow even more brutal than PENANCE; in fact, as far as brutal death metal goes, I would say this is one of the better albums of the genre.  For me, at least, one of the biggest problems of this uber form of regular ol' death metal is often times the vocals—pig squeals and guys inhaling so hard they sound like frogs burping usually turn me off from a lot of the bands, even if I enjoy the music.  However, the vocalist, Gorgo, ignores those genre tropes in favor of a more traditional, but no less brutal, death metal growl.  In essence, he sounds fucking sinister as hell but leaves the corny bull at the door.  When he gets into a groove, settling into the rhythm of the band, and spits out the vocals at an almost speed metal type pace, the whole setting of their atmosphere really sets the tone for the dark subject matter found in the lyrical content, which is a concept about sexual perversion.  Each song speaks about the sick stuff that humans are capable of doing to each other

Despite how good Gorgo's vocals are, this is death metal, and the best of it carries guitar riffs that strike a solid balance between groove and straight up ripping riffs.  The guitarists, Murgia and Scali, are very well versed in this, combining almost BOLT THROWER like rhythm assault but bring the sonic destiny and over the top heaviness that is associated with brutal death.  At the 3:15 mark of "Dead River Call" these monstrous riffs propel a short but sweet guitar solo that in itself leads into a nice mid-section of chunky riffs that weave around the spastic vocals of Gorgo.   The way the songs build upon each other, the riffs playing off the solos, is what really drew me in and I suspect what will draw most others too. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Lastrucci's bass and his extremely fast and talented fingers.  At the 2:27 mark of "Cascade of Mutilations," the solo and riffs might sound great but it's the bass that really carries this part of the song.   Overall, Lastrucci is more than effective at laying down bass licks that are heavier than a ton of bricks but still stand out from the rhythm guitar assault enough to differentiate his playing.

The highlight track for me has to be "Chimaera Canal," and it's probably the heaviest song I've heard this year.  The drums sound like a jack hammer-I wouldn't be shocked if Passanisi broke his entire kit during the recording of just this song alone.   Passanisi is a very interesting drummer—he is obviously very intense but I can tell he isn't playing fast and hard just for the sake of it.  His intensity has a purpose, whether it's being that human jack hammer or keeping a solid foundation for the rest of the band to build their house of heaviness upon. "Chimaera Canal's" parts from 2:38 to 4:48 are beautiful in its total commitment to full steam ahead brutality; the whole band is a train wreck of destruction. This is right alongside of DEAD ASYLUM's "Death Always Win," for one of the most brutally awesome death metal albums of the year.