Review by Carl on October 15, 2024.

What the hell is this production? Has this album been recorded in an aquarium somewhere? It sounds as if it has been put to tape deeply submerged under water. I enjoyed Evil Incarnate's previous output well enough, but the production on this one has me scratching my head. C'mon Mike, I know you can do better. I've heard you do better, so what gives?

Before we get into it, allow me to give a bit of a rundown of what Evil Incarnate is all about. Or to put it better, what the main man Mike Eisenhauer is all about because he is the sole consistent member of the band, writing (and sometimes even performing) the vast majority of the music. So what does that music sound like? I think the key word here is traditional because that is in my opinion the best way to describe what is on the plate here. Dealing in a sturdy type of old-school death metal, mostly midtempo with faster sections worked in, it brings to mind acts such as Acheron (the Vince Crowley one), Bathym, Funeral Nation, and Sathanas, with some Deicide, Nunslaughter and early Morbid Angel added in the more brutal parts. As mentioned, the music moves along at a mostly mid-tempo flow, putting emphasis primarily on heaviness and stomp, instead of high velocity. It's a sickening kinda groove that works well with the sturdy double kick-driven approach of the drums, and the gruff vomity vocals of Mr Eisenhauer. When the speed goes up, the band resorts to a pummelling style of primitive brutality, comparable to what Deicide filled their first two albums with, simple yet effective. Add to this the old-school death/thrash metal riffing, and there you have a solid dose of sometimes even catchy death metal. It's an approach that I greatly enjoyed on their previous offerings, things don't always have to move along at a million miles per hour.

Now, for the album. We get more of the same as before but with an added sense of ambiance this time. In some tracks that means added keyboards, like in "Not My Christ", and these work pretty well with the mid-tempo death metal on offer. There are also some intro's throughout, that for the most part establish the right kind of feel, but because they sound pretty boxed in, they sometimes come across as funny. Take the intro at the beginning of the album for an example, where the sound of what is supposed to be marching boots sounds more like a guy playing with a whoopee cushion because the sound is so compressed. Needless to say that this undercuts any intended effect. The music itself is again of the sturdy kind, sometimes heavy and grooving in that old-school death metal way, other times pummelling and filled with sadistic intent, with the songs at times getting pretty catchy for a death metal band. Add some blistering leads to the mix, and there you have a good dose of metal-plated death to bang your head to. One thing I have to add though, is that the songs are on the longer side of things, and I have to admit that some trimming of the fat would not have been unnecessary, because a track like "Lucifer's Crown" just seems to keep going, with "Black Box of Fear" being an outright slog in places. The average length is something over five minutes here, with three cuts even going over the seven-minute mark, and I would not have minded if these were more on the compact side.

And so we come to the peculiar sound mix. Apparently this is the work of one of the band members, and this production indeed sounds like a DIY job. The kick drums are horribly triggered, sounding very plastic and lifeless, with the guitars having a thoroughly compressed feel to them. These still sound damn heavy at times, but also have an unfortunate digital edge to them. As a whole, this album sounds as if the band is playing submerged in some liquid or other. You know that dull sound everything gets when you have water in your ear? Well, this album has that all over it, with an unwanted side effect the neutering of the whole. Add to this some choppy editing here and there, and it comes falling apart at the seams. The guitars sound detached from the rest of the instruments sometimes, and the balance between all of them shifts around as well, creating an unfocused and messy total picture at times. As someone who appreciated their previous stuff a lot, this is something I find to be a terrible shame because musically, this is a passable album for sure.

If I'm going to be honest with it, this is my least favorite Evil Incarnate offering. While the majority of the music sure has its moments, the crushing length of some of the songs makes me watch the clock a little too much, but it's the weird and unfocused production that sucks out a great deal of the fun for me. I've heard the band more energetic and sounding way better in the past, so let's just hope that Mike and his crew manage to recapture that spark, because I know they can do better.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on October 15, 2024.

What the hell is this production? Has this album been recorded in an aquarium somewhere? It sounds as if it has been put to tape deeply submerged under water. I enjoyed Evil Incarnate's previous output well enough, but the production on this one has me scratching my head. C'mon Mike, I know you can do better. I've heard you do better, so what gives?

Before we get into it, allow me to give a bit of a rundown of what Evil Incarnate is all about. Or to put it better, what the main man Mike Eisenhauer is all about because he is the sole consistent member of the band, writing (and sometimes even performing) the vast majority of the music. So what does that music sound like? I think the key word here is traditional because that is in my opinion the best way to describe what is on the plate here. Dealing in a sturdy type of old-school death metal, mostly midtempo with faster sections worked in, it brings to mind acts such as Acheron (the Vince Crowley one), Bathym, Funeral Nation, and Sathanas, with some Deicide, Nunslaughter and early Morbid Angel added in the more brutal parts. As mentioned, the music moves along at a mostly mid-tempo flow, putting emphasis primarily on heaviness and stomp, instead of high velocity. It's a sickening kinda groove that works well with the sturdy double kick-driven approach of the drums, and the gruff vomity vocals of Mr Eisenhauer. When the speed goes up, the band resorts to a pummelling style of primitive brutality, comparable to what Deicide filled their first two albums with, simple yet effective. Add to this the old-school death/thrash metal riffing, and there you have a solid dose of sometimes even catchy death metal. It's an approach that I greatly enjoyed on their previous offerings, things don't always have to move along at a million miles per hour.

Now, for the album. We get more of the same as before but with an added sense of ambiance this time. In some tracks that means added keyboards, like in "Not My Christ", and these work pretty well with the mid-tempo death metal on offer. There are also some intro's throughout, that for the most part establish the right kind of feel, but because they sound pretty boxed in, they sometimes come across as funny. Take the intro at the beginning of the album for an example, where the sound of what is supposed to be marching boots sounds more like a guy playing with a whoopee cushion because the sound is so compressed. Needless to say that this undercuts any intended effect. The music itself is again of the sturdy kind, sometimes heavy and grooving in that old-school death metal way, other times pummelling and filled with sadistic intent, with the songs at times getting pretty catchy for a death metal band. Add some blistering leads to the mix, and there you have a good dose of metal-plated death to bang your head to. One thing I have to add though, is that the songs are on the longer side of things, and I have to admit that some trimming of the fat would not have been unnecessary, because a track like "Lucifer's Crown" just seems to keep going, with "Black Box of Fear" being an outright slog in places. The average length is something over five minutes here, with three cuts even going over the seven-minute mark, and I would not have minded if these were more on the compact side.

And so we come to the peculiar sound mix. Apparently this is the work of one of the band members, and this production indeed sounds like a DIY job. The kick drums are horribly triggered, sounding very plastic and lifeless, with the guitars having a thoroughly compressed feel to them. These still sound damn heavy at times, but also have an unfortunate digital edge to them. As a whole, this album sounds as if the band is playing submerged in some liquid or other. You know that dull sound everything gets when you have water in your ear? Well, this album has that all over it, with an unwanted side effect the neutering of the whole. Add to this some choppy editing here and there, and it comes falling apart at the seams. The guitars sound detached from the rest of the instruments sometimes, and the balance between all of them shifts around as well, creating an unfocused and messy total picture at times. As someone who appreciated their previous stuff a lot, this is something I find to be a terrible shame because musically, this is a passable album for sure.

If I'm going to be honest with it, this is my least favorite Evil Incarnate offering. While the majority of the music sure has its moments, the crushing length of some of the songs makes me watch the clock a little too much, but it's the weird and unfocused production that sucks out a great deal of the fun for me. I've heard the band more energetic and sounding way better in the past, so let's just hope that Mike and his crew manage to recapture that spark, because I know they can do better.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Elijah on January 10, 2020.

I'm a brutal death fanatic, I've heard tons of new brutal death metal in 2019, but Ecchymosis is different, they got a style that's slightly away from the usual stuff. Ecchymosis is a brutal death metal band that relies mainly and purely on being as raw as possible, further increasing the heaviness to their desire and whatnot. The band also throws in some slam stuff onto the album, which is a sweet little cherry on top.

I remember early last year when I wasn't into slam/bdm I was trying out a bunch of random slam albums in similar artists sections, this band was there and I played this album, my immediate reaction was "What the absolute fuck is this? Jesus fuck this is just excruciating! The snare is the worst thing about it, how can anyone tolerate this?!?" It's funny how much the times have changed, and this stuff is now what I'm into and what I love. Aside from that story, let’s get on the album. When you start playing it you're immediately greeted by multiple layers of meaty wet gutturals, then the music comes in. You get immediate nasty vox, the next thing to pop up right in your face is that damn snare. THAT SNARE. One huge reason why slam has become popular and famous among certain groups is because of the snare. That clankiness, cheap-sounding, turned-off snare, and this band certainty focuses on that, that's the biggest standout of this entire album, the extremely loud clanky snare; it never goes away, it's always there, everywhere. It's not bad at all, I'm just stating obvious facts. But I'll mention it again later in the review.

The guitars are pretty down-tuned and extremely heavy, even a single chug is enough to prove that this is indeed, heavy. I'm not really all that great at talking about guitars, but pretty much all I have to say about this album is that the guitars are heavy, there's many chugs, some slams, and some fast picking and slightly intricate parts too. The guitar work stands up pretty well, and again proves the album and band to be generally different and stand out a little more from others. Very great guitar work, it's heavy, grinding, just the total package. The song structures are all the same, but all the songs open up differently for the most part. Aside from the opening parts of songs every song has a riff that's followed by a beat at the end of it, over and over. The only song that's memorable off the top of your head is 'Putrified Mass Sodomy Woundflux', but that doesn’t mean the album is bad, it doesn't mean that at all. That's just how bdm/slam usually is. Every track on this album is awesome.

The vocal work is magnificent. It's an extremely wet, guttural, disgusting, gurgling pile of beauty. It sounds like something choking on something oily and slimy, trying hard to push whatever it is out it's throat, but it can’t; so, it's just sitting there in agony desperately trying to get it out. It's again, disgusting and meaty, which makes it absolutely perfect. The vocals don't sound exactly like anybody else that comes to mind; so yeah; props to this man for spitting out this sick nasty throat work.

Although it's not important (to me at least) except for the music, the artwork and the name of the album and songs can’t go unnoticed, obviously. The artwork is absolutely beautiful, some of the best I've ever seen, I absolutely love it. Aberrant Amusement in Cadaveric Vomitplay is an awesome name for an album, it's just cool and adds more flavor. The song titles are just as similar and lengthy and detailed as well as the lyrics. Love it.

Now back to what I was saying about the snare drum. It's awesome, it's ideal, it's what's perfect for an album like this. But that doesn't mean it's ALWAYS perfect or ALWAYS enjoyable. Although the snare is great, sometimes it can be pretty damn annoying. Mainly when gravity blasting/hyperblasting/speed rolling. When the drummer does gravity blasting (or whatever technique he does) it's excruciating to the ear about 90% of the time, especially if you aren’t in the mood. It sounds like a spoon flailing around everywhere inside of a cheap glass cup, not really enjoyable. That's pretty much my only complaint about this album, which is why I docked it 2 points.

Just to clarify, the snare isn't shitty, just only at the parts where he gravity blasts on, the drums are just unpleasant sometimes. I love the snare, but yeah.

In conclusion, this is totally a solid brutal death album. It sort of has its own style; doing its own thing. It's different, it's interesting, it's very pleasurable when you get into it. Very solid slab of disgusting brutal death metal, 24 minutes of rancid brutality in your eardrums. These guys are coming out with a new full-length album in 2020, I wonder what stuff Ecchymosis will put out this time!

Rating: 9.8 out of 10

Review by Elijah on January 10, 2020.

I'm a brutal death fanatic, I've heard tons of new brutal death metal in 2019, but Ecchymosis is different, they got a style that's slightly away from the usual stuff. Ecchymosis is a brutal death metal band that relies mainly and purely on being as raw as possible, further increasing the heaviness to their desire and whatnot. The band also throws in some slam stuff onto the album, which is a sweet little cherry on top.

I remember early last year when I wasn't into slam/bdm I was trying out a bunch of random slam albums in similar artists sections, this band was there and I played this album, my immediate reaction was "What the absolute fuck is this? Jesus fuck this is just excruciating! The snare is the worst thing about it, how can anyone tolerate this?!?" It's funny how much the times have changed, and this stuff is now what I'm into and what I love. Aside from that story, let’s get on the album. When you start playing it you're immediately greeted by multiple layers of meaty wet gutturals, then the music comes in. You get immediate nasty vox, the next thing to pop up right in your face is that damn snare. THAT SNARE. One huge reason why slam has become popular and famous among certain groups is because of the snare. That clankiness, cheap-sounding, turned-off snare, and this band certainty focuses on that, that's the biggest standout of this entire album, the extremely loud clanky snare; it never goes away, it's always there, everywhere. It's not bad at all, I'm just stating obvious facts. But I'll mention it again later in the review.

The guitars are pretty down-tuned and extremely heavy, even a single chug is enough to prove that this is indeed, heavy. I'm not really all that great at talking about guitars, but pretty much all I have to say about this album is that the guitars are heavy, there's many chugs, some slams, and some fast picking and slightly intricate parts too. The guitar work stands up pretty well, and again proves the album and band to be generally different and stand out a little more from others. Very great guitar work, it's heavy, grinding, just the total package. The song structures are all the same, but all the songs open up differently for the most part. Aside from the opening parts of songs every song has a riff that's followed by a beat at the end of it, over and over. The only song that's memorable off the top of your head is 'Putrified Mass Sodomy Woundflux', but that doesn’t mean the album is bad, it doesn't mean that at all. That's just how bdm/slam usually is. Every track on this album is awesome.

The vocal work is magnificent. It's an extremely wet, guttural, disgusting, gurgling pile of beauty. It sounds like something choking on something oily and slimy, trying hard to push whatever it is out it's throat, but it can’t; so, it's just sitting there in agony desperately trying to get it out. It's again, disgusting and meaty, which makes it absolutely perfect. The vocals don't sound exactly like anybody else that comes to mind; so yeah; props to this man for spitting out this sick nasty throat work.

Although it's not important (to me at least) except for the music, the artwork and the name of the album and songs can’t go unnoticed, obviously. The artwork is absolutely beautiful, some of the best I've ever seen, I absolutely love it. Aberrant Amusement in Cadaveric Vomitplay is an awesome name for an album, it's just cool and adds more flavor. The song titles are just as similar and lengthy and detailed as well as the lyrics. Love it.

Now back to what I was saying about the snare drum. It's awesome, it's ideal, it's what's perfect for an album like this. But that doesn't mean it's ALWAYS perfect or ALWAYS enjoyable. Although the snare is great, sometimes it can be pretty damn annoying. Mainly when gravity blasting/hyperblasting/speed rolling. When the drummer does gravity blasting (or whatever technique he does) it's excruciating to the ear about 90% of the time, especially if you aren’t in the mood. It sounds like a spoon flailing around everywhere inside of a cheap glass cup, not really enjoyable. That's pretty much my only complaint about this album, which is why I docked it 2 points.

Just to clarify, the snare isn't shitty, just only at the parts where he gravity blasts on, the drums are just unpleasant sometimes. I love the snare, but yeah.

In conclusion, this is totally a solid brutal death album. It sort of has its own style; doing its own thing. It's different, it's interesting, it's very pleasurable when you get into it. Very solid slab of disgusting brutal death metal, 24 minutes of rancid brutality in your eardrums. These guys are coming out with a new full-length album in 2020, I wonder what stuff Ecchymosis will put out this time!

Rating: 9.8 out of 10