Surgical Dissection
Absurd Humanism

I know, I know, I find all the most unfortunate groups, and this one is no exception. In fact, these five guys come from a territory that certainly cannot be defined as fertile in the realm of extreme music, Slovakia. And perhaps, part of their charm lies in having managed to make themselves heard in a reality that lacks producers and record labels. But beyond these para-no global considerations, this album is a good piece of work, especially when considering it's the debut of a band and that, despite topographical challenges, they manage to offer something that, if not innovative in itself, at least inserts itself into an innovative genre. The group, despite the moniker that left me somewhat doubtful, shows that they have learned from bands like Cephalic Carnage (perhaps the most evident influence) and Nasum regarding experimentation and extremism; clearly, Surgical Dissection does not reach the levels of these two bands, but they at least try. Even if the name suggests that they deal with purely Gore themes, one might change their mind by looking at the lyrics, which focus solely on social commitment and denunciation; in a nutshell, if on the strictly sonic aspect they abstract from the new waves of Brutal/Grind, on the content level they go back to the themes of the first generations. Although atypical, I consider it commendable to distance themselves from the prevailing trend of dealing with topics revolving around the basest and most disgusting repugnance.

Even though I've so far suggested the idea of a Grind complex, it's worth noting that Surgical Dissection abandon one of the main components of groups in this genre, namely the brevity of the songs, which have an average duration of three or four minutes for about half an hour of listening. Notable is the presence of a Death metal component that becomes especially evident during slowdowns, made very heavy by a distortion that adequately filters bass and guitars without the other instruments being smothered. The technical performance of the five members is flawless, even if it doesn't offer many thrills to an "experienced" listener. The guitarists play decently but are certainly not the most interesting part of the group; the riffs are quite heavy and complex but not refined enough, which over time causes their role to lose importance. Very captivating, however, is the bass, always audible and able to carve out space in the wall of sound created by the other members. The best performance is undoubtedly that of the drummer: instead of focusing on speed, he aims for original and unusual stylistic solutions, without for that reason venturing into typically jazz odd times. In short, he manages to "create" without overdoing it, demonstrating excellent skill but above all a strong intuition on how to expand the genre's standards. The vocalist has a very deep and indeed very good growling that he intersperses with rare but effective screams: the producer wisely decided not to filter him, so we hear him in all his subversive strength. However, listening to the album in its entirety reveals its flaws: the songwriting is not at all exciting and ends up repeating itself without adding anything new from song to song.

Although the drummer's ideas are commendable, the real structure of the songs ends up being similar in all compositions, and the guitarists unravel riffs that are too indistinguishable. In short, it's clear that Surgical Dissection is at its beginnings and still somewhat immature; this is also evident from the absence of a real mood (the work doesn't communicate anguish nor anger), which in my opinion penalizes the group a lot. The result is a CD that stands above average for its intentions but remains anchored to a bland adequacy due to its incompleteness. "Absurd Humanism" is a raw album but not for that reason contemptible: the musicians are talented and certainly have a lot to say for the future. Even if the work is not essential, the band should be kept an eye on and deserves warm encouragement.