Review by Carl on November 7, 2021.

Did somebody say, "obscure band with an even more obscure release from a time long ago"? You did? Well then, let me be of service to you. Please meet US death/grind unit Detestation, not to be confused with the crust act of the same name. From the sparse info I could find about this lot, I managed to piece together that they started life as a grindcore infused death metal band that evolved into an industrial act, and that this album is a collection of material recorded at different times. And yeah, you can definitely hear that.

The material at the start of this cd is indeed death/grind the way it was made in the early to mid-90's. Imagine a cross between the first two albums by Dutch death squad Sinister and the demos by Dying Fetus, with some traces of early Cannibal Corpse thrown in. It sure sounds brutal as fuck, even if playing isn't so tight and the production isn't all that hot. Stylistically, you've got the Chris Barnes (circa 1992) type of vocals going head-to-head with the Deicide-esque riffing and blasting percussion, with some pretty good guitar leads popping up. The band vary between grinding blasts, thrashing battering and mid-tempo stomp, and manage to compose some cool death metal tracks that may lack in originality, but don't fail to deliver the goods. It's a style that a label like Wild Rags pumped out in droves at that time and sounds cool enough to my ears.

Because it's a compilation of sorts, the sound quality changes quite often throughout the runtime of the cd. It's never top notch, but in a track like 'Smoked' it becomes a bit of a mess, and in 'Infecting' it becomes a total mess. The music is still cool, but from this point on the meager production begins to turn itself against the sloppy playing the band at times exhibits, turning proceedings into a total dump. What really works against this album is that at times the sound can change from one song to the next, not helping the fluidity of this cd at all.

What also doesn't help, is that not all of their material is as consistent, with some tracks even giving the idea of simply being a brainfart put into music, like 'Silenced' or 'Dysfunction' for instance. The former sounds like Hemdale doing a drive-by shooting on Nine Inch Nails' rehearsal room, with the latter trying to integrate the first "Terminator" soundtrack into an industrial death metal frame. 'Control' has a vibe I can only describe as Internal Bleeding trying their hand at a Pantera style of metal without succeeding, and 'Killing Time' sounds like industrial grindcore free jazz, and turns out exactly as you are imagining, like garbage.

This collection of tracks certainly has some good ideas floating around, like in tracks such as 'Massacre Of Hate', 'Mutilated Death' and the 6 minute 'E.M.F.', but on the other side of that there's really sub-par material like the tracks mentioned above. Add to this the inconsistent sound quality that gives the overall album a really flaky feel. At times it's as if you're listening to a compilation album with different bands on it instead of an album by one.

This is a primarily interesting release for people into obscure old school US death grind and for collector nerd assholes like myself. I can't really imagine your average death metal fanatic really waiting for this, to be honest. I will admit that it is an interesting release for the historian out there, but no more than that, I'm afraid.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on November 7, 2021.

Did somebody say, "obscure band with an even more obscure release from a time long ago"? You did? Well then, let me be of service to you. Please meet US death/grind unit Detestation, not to be confused with the crust act of the same name. From the sparse info I could find about this lot, I managed to piece together that they started life as a grindcore infused death metal band that evolved into an industrial act, and that this album is a collection of material recorded at different times. And yeah, you can definitely hear that.

The material at the start of this cd is indeed death/grind the way it was made in the early to mid-90's. Imagine a cross between the first two albums by Dutch death squad Sinister and the demos by Dying Fetus, with some traces of early Cannibal Corpse thrown in. It sure sounds brutal as fuck, even if playing isn't so tight and the production isn't all that hot. Stylistically, you've got the Chris Barnes (circa 1992) type of vocals going head-to-head with the Deicide-esque riffing and blasting percussion, with some pretty good guitar leads popping up. The band vary between grinding blasts, thrashing battering and mid-tempo stomp, and manage to compose some cool death metal tracks that may lack in originality, but don't fail to deliver the goods. It's a style that a label like Wild Rags pumped out in droves at that time and sounds cool enough to my ears.

Because it's a compilation of sorts, the sound quality changes quite often throughout the runtime of the cd. It's never top notch, but in a track like 'Smoked' it becomes a bit of a mess, and in 'Infecting' it becomes a total mess. The music is still cool, but from this point on the meager production begins to turn itself against the sloppy playing the band at times exhibits, turning proceedings into a total dump. What really works against this album is that at times the sound can change from one song to the next, not helping the fluidity of this cd at all.

What also doesn't help, is that not all of their material is as consistent, with some tracks even giving the idea of simply being a brainfart put into music, like 'Silenced' or 'Dysfunction' for instance. The former sounds like Hemdale doing a drive-by shooting on Nine Inch Nails' rehearsal room, with the latter trying to integrate the first "Terminator" soundtrack into an industrial death metal frame. 'Control' has a vibe I can only describe as Internal Bleeding trying their hand at a Pantera style of metal without succeeding, and 'Killing Time' sounds like industrial grindcore free jazz, and turns out exactly as you are imagining, like garbage.

This collection of tracks certainly has some good ideas floating around, like in tracks such as 'Massacre Of Hate', 'Mutilated Death' and the 6 minute 'E.M.F.', but on the other side of that there's really sub-par material like the tracks mentioned above. Add to this the inconsistent sound quality that gives the overall album a really flaky feel. At times it's as if you're listening to a compilation album with different bands on it instead of an album by one.

This is a primarily interesting release for people into obscure old school US death grind and for collector nerd assholes like myself. I can't really imagine your average death metal fanatic really waiting for this, to be honest. I will admit that it is an interesting release for the historian out there, but no more than that, I'm afraid.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on November 7, 2021.

Did somebody say, "obscure band with an even more obscure release from a time long ago"? You did? Well then, let me be of service to you. Please meet US death/grind unit Detestation, not to be confused with the crust act of the same name. From the sparse info I could find about this lot, I managed to piece together that they started life as a grindcore infused death metal band that evolved into an industrial act, and that this album is a collection of material recorded at different times. And yeah, you can definitely hear that.

The material at the start of this cd is indeed death/grind the way it was made in the early to mid-90's. Imagine a cross between the first two albums by Dutch death squad Sinister and the demos by Dying Fetus, with some traces of early Cannibal Corpse thrown in. It sure sounds brutal as fuck, even if playing isn't so tight and the production isn't all that hot. Stylistically, you've got the Chris Barnes (circa 1992) type of vocals going head-to-head with the Deicide-esque riffing and blasting percussion, with some pretty good guitar leads popping up. The band vary between grinding blasts, thrashing battering and mid-tempo stomp, and manage to compose some cool death metal tracks that may lack in originality, but don't fail to deliver the goods. It's a style that a label like Wild Rags pumped out in droves at that time and sounds cool enough to my ears.

Because it's a compilation of sorts, the sound quality changes quite often throughout the runtime of the cd. It's never top notch, but in a track like 'Smoked' it becomes a bit of a mess, and in 'Infecting' it becomes a total mess. The music is still cool, but from this point on the meager production begins to turn itself against the sloppy playing the band at times exhibits, turning proceedings into a total dump. What really works against this album is that at times the sound can change from one song to the next, not helping the fluidity of this cd at all.

What also doesn't help, is that not all of their material is as consistent, with some tracks even giving the idea of simply being a brainfart put into music, like 'Silenced' or 'Dysfunction' for instance. The former sounds like Hemdale doing a drive-by shooting on Nine Inch Nails' rehearsal room, with the latter trying to integrate the first "Terminator" soundtrack into an industrial death metal frame. 'Control' has a vibe I can only describe as Internal Bleeding trying their hand at a Pantera style of metal without succeeding, and 'Killing Time' sounds like industrial grindcore free jazz, and turns out exactly as you are imagining, like garbage.

This collection of tracks certainly has some good ideas floating around, like in tracks such as 'Massacre Of Hate', 'Mutilated Death' and the 6 minute 'E.M.F.', but on the other side of that there's really sub-par material like the tracks mentioned above. Add to this the inconsistent sound quality that gives the overall album a really flaky feel. At times it's as if you're listening to a compilation album with different bands on it instead of an album by one.

This is a primarily interesting release for people into obscure old school US death grind and for collector nerd assholes like myself. I can't really imagine your average death metal fanatic really waiting for this, to be honest. I will admit that it is an interesting release for the historian out there, but no more than that, I'm afraid.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Allan on February 28, 2004.

Anathema has been on a never-ending path to success since they began over a decade ago. I'll spare you from their well-known story of doom and gloom to, well, rock and gloom (more or less), other than to say that they've been improving with every release since they found their niche. Unfortunately, "A Natural Disaster," Anathema's follow-up to 2001's magnificent "A Fine Day To Exit," isn't as brilliant as its predecessor.

Despite the initial letdown, "A Natural Disaster" is a good album – I promise. There isn't too much to get upset about, other than that it's not Anathema's best album yet. Not that we were all expecting it to be. I suppose it's just the fact that they are capable of doing much better.

"A Natural Disaster" has basically fallen victim to the same thing "Eternity" did. The first half is pretty good, and the second half is more or less excellent. Those first five songs, while fairly good in their own right, bring the album down as a whole. I really just want to get through the incongruous 'Are You There' and the futile interlude, 'Childhood Dream,' and jump right into the energetic 'Pulled Under At 2000 Meters Per Second' with it's 'Panic'-esque, claustrophobic, driving rhythm, or the beautiful female vocalist on the emotional, heartfelt title track, or the beautiful melodies and the simplistic yet perfectly fitting solo on 'Flying.' The last two songs are quite excellent as well – 'Electricity' gently flows along with soft piano and warm vocal melodies, and 'Violence' nicely continues that pattern before launching itself into a forceful climax and ending the album with a calm soundscape of sorts. However, it's the first few songs that just don't seem to help move the album anywhere.

Individually, the songs are very well composed. Anathema really started to perfect their seamless, cohesive style of song writing that focuses on crafting songs that build off of themselves on "A Fine Day To Exit." "A Natural Disaster" stresses the importance of this once again, and the results are great. However, there's a bit left to be desired in the overall continuity of the album.

"A Natural Disaster," despite being disappointing, is still easily one of the better albums to come out recently. My harsh words are only due to the high standards that Anathema have set for themselves. It's still a highly enjoyable album that deserves a place in every Anathema fans collection.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 7
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.6 out of 10