Review by Krys on May 28, 2002.

Honestly, the first time I gave “Binge and Purge” a spin it didn’t do much for me but I guess it had something special after all because somehow it made its way back into the player and actually stayed there for a while. Now, after few good sessions I have to say this album has to be one of the most interesting hard rock releases I’ve heard since early 90s.

Torok’s fusion of rock genres from the 70s to the 90s is amazing; the band mixes styles from greats like Kiss, Ted Nugent, and early Iron Maiden through Skid Row to blues guitar touches from Vaughn to Clapton. Recorded with a raw sound and atmosphere of earlier rock days it reminded me of flower power concerts and loudmouthed potato-sack wearing hippies. These 11 tracks were made for you to listen to while you lie on the ground and smoke a fat pipe. What else could come from a bunch of guys that thank Playboy and motorcycles for gratuitous inspiration?

Ex-Impaler guitarist Michael Torok feeds this music with his excellent guitar skills and his amazing blues/rock touch, and while most rock bands turn me off with cheesy vocals, Bryan Erickson is one of the strongest points of this band. From clean vocals to tearing screams his performance is simply excellent. But not everything is excellent here; most tracks are very good tunes but some of them seem to lose direction and at the end make an impression of nothing more than a jam session. What might have been an intentional move by Torok’s musicians didn’t have the desired effect on me and actually broke my attention and sometimes even bored me. Overall “Binge And Purge” is a very good debut and with few tweaks and bigger production budget a break through moment is well within Torok’s reach.

Bottom Line: Recommended for anyone hungry for pure hard rock based on good songwriting and even better delivery.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: 7
Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.6 out of 10

Review by Adam M on June 30, 2014.

Septic Flesh has fully taken into account orchestration in their sound and it results in yet another successful album that falls just short of stunning in its quality yet again. The Great Mass brought a lot of a classical music flavor to the table and this is even further expanded upon in songs like “Prometheus” and “Ground Zero”. The aggressive death metal side is still there, but brought further into experimental orchestrated excursions.

Some pummeling portions are to be found in songs such as “Burn”, yet the trade-off between different styles is done almost as well as the old Opeth albums. There is little growth from The Great Mass, yet Titan succeeds at bringing a possibly even more tempting disc to the table with only greater refinements. Fans of bands like Hollenthon will find a lot to enjoy here with the use of a similar palette of classical music. However, a person that wants a greater death metal vibe also is offered an adequate amount of material from that style as well. The Greek aspect that is added to the sound adds the final interesting part to the whole.

All of the songs offer something to the listener and have a great impact. The band might have taken a wrong turn for a few listeners, but the quality of the music is still as strong as any of their material. Be warned, however, it takes a few listens to adapt to some of the musical patterns and changes. Septic Flesh has released an enjoyable and very eclectic listen to the public. Take your time and be rewarded with the intricacies.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10