Skull Collector
Depravity Indulged Through Fresh Corporal Parts
5
Skull Collector hails from Belgium, though their sound isn’t even vaguely European. Instead, the quartet plays raw, primitive, and gory deathgrind that mines the North and South American scenes for inspiration. Those seeking anything other than a lo-fi, blood-soaked bludgeoning can go ahead and stop reading now.
Depravity Indulged Through Fresh Corporal Parts is a gnarly, nasty beast. No two ways about it. The band takes chunky, early-Suffocation style death metal and adds sharp blasting alongside hulking, meaty grooves. Vocalist Kurt Straetemans offers a healthy helping of truly guttural bellows and injects a little variety via varying levels of burping, shrieking, and howling. Mark van de Velde’s drumming is definitely the standout element of the band’s sound though, not because he is doing anything particularly unusual, because he isn’t. The lo-fi production values tell me that any triggering or pro-tools effects are highly unlikely, yet his blasting and foot work are impressively quick and tight; that is why it stands out.
The majority of the songs herein fall between three and four minutes, and for the most part they follow the same general formula. Some blasting here, a hefty groove there, sprinkle in some chunky death riffing and you get the idea. It’s not calculus, it’s fucking goregrind, know what I mean? The production is definitely on the muddy side of things, though it’s at a comfortable level considering the genre. A little extra clarity and warmth in the drums would work wonders, allowing van de Velde’s talents to shine through a little more, but fuck it. It works.
What will really make or break this album for you is the level of sickness you prefer. Depravity… isn’t quite nasty enough to cause physical discomfort, but it’s certainly not for fans of anything glossy, melodic, or remotely easy to listen to.
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