Goreopsy
Intentional Disfiguration

They come from Slovakia, there are two of them, they play a damn Death Grind, and they manage, like few others, to destroy anything in their path; they are Goreopsy. You might all think this is the portrait of any band in the genre, but you're wrong; Goreopsy manage to create much more chaos than other bands I've reviewed. Why? Because they don't give a damn about technique, but not so much that they seem like aimless sonic hooligans, because they know how to compose songs well, because they understand that to create an extreme product, it's not always necessary to slam the accelerator to the floor. Or maybe simply because they wanted to play music that crushes, and the guitarist has a natural gift for spitting out riffs as black as pitch (apologies for the colorful expression, but the linguistic register must adapt to the content).

I realize this isn't the best start, so I'll try to gather myself and write something decent; but even you, uptight professionals, might find yourselves headbanging with a tie wrapped around your head after listening to just a few minutes of "Metus Atrox."

A few technical details never hurt, so I should point out this is the debut EP of this duo (definitely a different story from Mortician, to be clear) from Eastern Europe, a land that has lately been giving birth to valuable Death and Grind bands (I'll settle for mentioning their fellow countrymen Surgical Dissection). The EP paves the way for the recently released album titled "Ed Killer" which includes songs from this work, but recorded in a much more dignified way; right off the bat, I'll say that one of the worst flaws of this Mini CD is the production. The limited budget negatively impacts the entire sound which, if rendered in a cleaner fashion, could have truly shaken much more famous bands; instead, upon a cursory listen, it might seem like any Grindgore band without art or part.

The lineup seems to be limited to two people not so much by choice but due to the scarcity of drummers willing to play this genre in their city; this shows how unfair the world is to poor metalheads (sigh!). So, these two guys bought a drum machine after which one started singing largely imitating the vocalist of Cock And Ball Torture while the other picked up guitar and bass and started writing riffs drawing from the Brutal Death Californian and New York repertoire. The result is a sound that, to me, resembles Abysmal Torment's "Incised Wound Suicide," especially regarding the massive dose of groove present. Fortunately, the electronic drums have been programmed really well (highly varied tempos and constant change) despite the dry, artificial, and often muffled sound making the absence of a real drummer felt quite prominently. However, the riffing is excellent, which is surprisingly different (for an underground, non-emerging band relegated to a musically underdeveloped country) from that of other world bands. Don't expect the highly complex and fast parts of new Brutal Death; "Intentional Disfiguration" pushes the frontier of destruction a bit further.

The guitar has only one goal, to hurt, and it succeeds splendidly. Dark, underground, and sick riffs follow one another relentlessly, often culminating in slowdowns truly threatening to a metalhead's neck; this is what one seeks when beginning to listen to Death Metal. If I haven't been clear enough, I'd like to clarify that Goreopsy are not a lousy band in the sense that they play quite well, but certainly, they will never be the passion of those convinced that Brutal Death is only about technique. In "Intentional Disfiguration," there is violence but also passion and a desire to evoke emotions as simple as they are powerful. You won't find yourself pondering the universe's why or fantasizing about death and the end of the world; you will simply be overwhelmed by the power of the music, by that primordial shaking of the head, by that inhuman rage only Death can evoke. I know these considerations will likely draw many criticisms (I can already imagine the quips of Bionic Metalhead) but in the end, why lie? One doesn't listen to this music genre just to admire the technical skills of this or that drummer, but also to clash (in a childish way, no one denies it) with something hard.

This discussion arose here because perhaps it's the essence of Goreopsy's proposal; this is immediate Brutal Death Metal, not difficult to listen to but at the same time among the hardest around. Not so elaborate as to become an album solely for the musically attuned ears but not so raw as to give a wrong idea of extreme metal. Not assimilable like an Old School Death album but also not indigestible like the experiments of Gorguts or Cryptopsy. A flesh-grinding EP destined for the bloodthirsty and anyone who appreciates strong tastes: or simply anyone who loves metal in its true essence (because metal is not just chaos, but there's plenty of chaos in metal).