Visceral Bleeding
Remnants Of Deprivation

In times of Death metal famine, for example once having devoured all the albums of the "greats" of the genre (Suffocation and Cryptopsy to name two) and while waiting for some eagerly awaited release from the usual sacred monsters, I usually dive into the underground to see if I can find some good emerging band: precisely during a period like this (specifically after having listened to the entire Death discography to exhaustion) I found myself in the aforementioned situation and ordered "Remnants Of Deprivation". The album in question is the work of Visceral Bleeding, a group consisting of five Norwegians who, unlike many compatriots dedicated to Melodic Death, play a Brutal Death with clear American inspiration.

The nine songs that make up the album are decidedly very fast and slowdowns are few and fleeting: the tempos are supported by a very capable drummer who doesn't miss a beat, giving this work high energy and equally high power. The two guitars, for their part, churn out numerous riffs, very varied among themselves and very intricate, making each song truly deadly and fierce. The bassist also offers an excellent performance and often peeks out from the sea of sounds to gift us "pleasant" yet violent breaks. And as the icing on the cake, an inhuman, powerful, angry singer, and above all, endowed with a rare lung longevity that allows him to sing in growling in long passages and keep up with the faster ones.

But the enchantment doesn't last long: as listens follow listens, some important flaws emerge that dampen the enthusiasm. First of all, the production is not up to par and presents a cold and sparse sound, something that in a Black album would highlight the sense of chill, but that makes a Brutal Death album barren and inexpressive. Secondly, the songs don't engage and if you don't listen to them for a while, they lose all their effectiveness in terms of violence. Third, this album is a mix of the style of all the greatest Death formations ever, which would be a great asset if it weren't for the fact that this album is from 2001 and the groups they reference had their peak ten years earlier. Innovation is not among the abilities of Visceral Bleeding who do not put anything of their own into this work; even the lyrics lack personality and deal with the same themes of murder, dismemberment, and necrophilia dealt with (better) by a hundred other groups. Finally (an absolutely personal judgment) the voice, in the long run, is too muddy and annoying.

One wonders then why to search the web for this little group's album instead of buying the latest Cannibal Corpse release in the store around the corner: both products are repetitive and stale, but at least the latter bears on the cover a name that should assure against poorly played albums (while Visceral Bleeding, as much as they are good instrumentalists, are illustrious unknowns). In a nutshell, why spend money in the dark for a good but inconsistent product when you can have works of the same type guaranteed by big names? This is the typical album that breeds doubt, the one that makes every self-respecting metalhead fear the death of Brutal Death; the only thing that saves it is the excellent technique of the performers, but unfortunately, it is not enough. I hope that the subsequent works are more expressive.