Review by Felix on July 28, 2019.

I am not familiar with each and every output of Six Feet Under and no, I do not intend to change this. Their products are usually either mediocre or absolute crap. Whenever I think of their "classics" series, I cannot eat as much as I want to puke. But even a blind chicken finds a corn once in a while and as far as I can see, Warpath is the best full-length of the formation.

To avoid misunderstandings right from the beginning, I am not talking about a masterpiece, a milestone or something like that. The tracks are nearly painfully repetitive, the vocals of Chris Barnes appear pretty one-dimensional and lyrics like "I'll kill 'til I die" give me absolutely nothing. But I am aware of the fact that I will not change the weird genre rules of death metal and therefore it is futile to moan about the lyrical stupidity of the songs. 

Maybe it makes more sense to speak about the production. Brian Slagel has been responsible for the mix and the dude from California belongs to the people who have shaped the sound of extreme metal right from the start. It is therefore only logical that the Metal Blade boss knows how a death metal album should sound. The guitars are not too low-tuned, the drum appears pretty natural and the voice does not sideline the contributions of the other band members. But what about the tracks themselves?

Doubtlessly, the album is not free from failures. The verse of "4:20" and the chorus of "Burning Blood" show that Barnes is a very limited, nearly miserable vocalist. "A Journey into Darkness" offers nothing but boredom. Nevertheless, the majority of the compositions hits the mark. In spite of the fact that mid-tempo prevails, Six Feet Under are able to fascinate the listener with creeping monsters like the opener and "Death or Glory". A short outburst of velocity ("Animal Instinct") makes clear that the dudes are also able to handle more aggressive configurations. And "Revenge of the Zombies" scores with an effective interplay of the verses and some instrumental parts that rely on a pretty belligerent yet smooth riff. I admit that there are no signs of compositional innovation and the world did not really need an album like the here presented one, but that's not the crucial factor. Maybe the world would even still exist without "Hell Awaits" (I don't think so). More relevant is that Warpath has a couple of extremely catchy, coherent numbers under its belt that make fun from time to time.

Finally, the songs are not too groovy. Rhythm plays a prominent role, but it is still more death metal than death 'n' roll or comparable shitty styles. So, feel free to ornament your lovely face with war paint in order to take your first steps on the warpath in an appropriate manner. And don't worry. Although some dubious creatures scream permanently that they will kill until they die, one thing is for sure. I am listening to Warpath since 1997 from time to time, but my head is still on my neck.

Rating: 7.3 out of 10

Review by Elijah on June 13, 2020.

Cenotaph, one of the greatest units of brutal death metal hailing from the country of Turkey. Definitely the greatest death metal band from there. Their debut album Voluptuously Minced starts a direction in their future discography of albums.

Voluptuously Minced is most definitely an old school brutal death metal album. Not similar to other osdbm bands at the time such as Pyaemia, Disgorge, Mortal Decay, Dehumanized, or Malignancy, but still an old school bdm album; just with its own style, probably because it's from Turkey that it doesn't sound similar to the other arising osbdm acts at the time. The production isn't exactly amazing, it has that old school - unperfect sound that'll hit you immediately as soon has you hear it. The drumming is good, but at the same time it's slightly loud in the mix and doesn't exactly have a proper foundation. The kick drum can be pretty buried by the snare too a lot of the time. The guitars sound great but also grainy at the same time. Similar to the production, the guitars aren't 100% amazing, but in the end it works and is good. The riffs are pretty awesome, the best song being the opener 'Less Than Human Urinal', nice title too by the way, love it. The sound quality in everything may not be perfect, but the riffs, songwriting, and playing ability make up for those aspects instantly. The album as a whole is generally pretty fucking good and the issues aren't really even that much of an issue once you get used to the album.

On the other hand, the bass is absolutely flawless. It has a clear sound that's present and 100% hearable. The most notable bass part in the entire album is the beginning of 'Different Dimensional Pervertation'. The bass and the bass playing are perfect. The riffs are fun and bouncy, especially on tracks like 'Revenge', starts off slow and menacing, but then comes an awesome fun riff that'll get your head banging. 'Revenge' and 'Less Than Human Urinal' are most definitely the best songs on the album.

Although this album being my least favorite in Cenotaph's discography, it's still great and I appreciate it just as much as I do their other albums. Flawed in some respects, but overall a great effort. It has brutality, fun riffs, old school vibes, and wet brutal vocals. Voluptuously Minced is an awesome little album that features 22 minutes of Turkish brutality. Doesn't define the band's future work AT ALL (since all the albums following this one is very different), but a good start nonetheless.

Best Songs:
'Less Than Human Urinal'
'Revenge'

Rating: 9 out of 10