Originally written by Erik Thomas
Long delayed album number 2 from The Ravenous and what more would you expect from a project combining Chris Reifert (Autopsy, Abscess), Killjoy (Necrophagia), Danny Coralles (Abscess), Clint Bower (Abscess) and Dan Lilliker (Brutal Truth)? Sloppy, vomit chewing, sewage gargling, maggot infested death metal, that essentially continues the legacy of Autopsy and Abscess.
With Reifert being the main music writer, a combination of the Autopsy/Abscess sound is pretty much the driving force with the same lyrical content and dirty, vomited vocals (shared by Reifert and Killjoy) covering the usual fare; mutilated whores, cannibalistic insanity and festering innards-its a lot like Thanksgiving at my house. Those who own 2000’s Assembled in Blasphemy, won’t find too much different on Blood Delerium, it’s the same template with little deviation from a tried and tested sound that Reifert has perfected over the last 15 years. The sound is a dirty old school nasty guitar tone, gushing either punkish death metal or psychotically slow riffs, thick with fecal matter, with Lilliker’s humming bass and Riefert’s/Killjoy’s tortured screams spewing forth. Throw in plenty of disturbing, obscure horror movie samples and the foul recipe is complete. Those looking for a tight, precise well polished death metal album might stick with Decapitated.
Kicking of with cries of the suffering, much like “Shrieks of the Mutilated” did for the last album, “Razor Blade Salvation” kicks things off fittingly and the wound is open, leaking copiously for the next 35 minutes. The first thing I noticed is that the samples are more frequent, appearing during songs, not just as intros or outros. “Mordrum”, serves as one long sample that introduces the albums, if not the band’s most developed, twisted track “August Underground” (of which there is a typically low budget, but still disturbing video on the CD). The unusually long “Gore Whore”, picks up the pace with a more typically Abscess like gait; relying on surprisingly catchy riffs to convey the sonic insanity.
For me though, Reifert and company are at their best when delivering truly sick off kilter songs that are deranged without being forcefully death metal (as he did with so many moments on Mental Funeral). “Nightmares in Damaged Brain”, is as demented sounding you will ever hear in its stark acoustic psychosis. So many other bands could learn that fast and brutal isn’t always the way to convey true sickness.
While the album is injected with a few short sharp bursts of power chord expulsions (“Baptized by Demons Piss”, “A Corpse is Forever”), this album’s songs seem a little more developed and disgustingly creepier with few more chords of drawn out lunacy and rancid discordance-it’s a lot more…. Autopsy-ish. “Spawned by Ghoul Insemination” typifies this far more satisfying devolution at over 5 minutes, consisting of familiar squealing guitars and crawling, oozing structures.
Definitely a welcome change from the normal US school over polished, overproduced triggered technicality, The Ravenous are pure throwback in both delivery and sound that may be a little too raw for some listeners raised on the Hate Eternal and Vital Remains school of hyperactivity, and that’s about the only negative I can find with this puss ridden boil of an album-its all going to be about taste, or lack thereof.
