Review by Carl on October 15, 2024.

Old school brutal death metal, completely done in the glorious tradition of the late 90's and early 00's. It's a style I do miss, quite honestly, because I don't seem to encounter it a lot anymore. Maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places? Could very well be, who'll say?

What Teratoma offers up on their first full-length sounds wonderfully familiar. The band is heavily reliant on down-tuned riffing, blubbering, and pulsing through a set of tracks that go full blasting speed ahead for the most part, with at times some room built in for a dose of pulsing midtempo stomp as well. As this tradition dictates, the total picture is held together by a deep and hoarse grunt, occasionally alternated by some larynx-shredding screams, upping the intensity factor with a few notches more. Melody is a concept totally unknown to Teratoma, with the band rather choosing the blunt approach to their craft, relying mostly on brute force to get the message across. In tracks like "Hollow Preacher" and "Visceral Hate", we get a few guitar leads shoved into our earholes, and while I find these to be cool additions to the overall sound, honesty also dictates me to say that these are perhaps not their strongest suit. These leads sound a bit flat and uninspired as if they were improvised on the spot. In its totality, it certainly is a straight-forward approach to the music, and for the majority of the album it works exquisitely, aided in no small part by the heavy and sturdy production job.

There aren't a whole lot of things that rub me the wrong way on this album, but I also have to admit that towards the end, a feeling of uniformity sets in. That the music is played at high speed for a big part is responsible for this, but the band also has some tendency to repeat their ideas throughout. When coupled with the dense and heavy production, it does bring on a bit of a 'one long song' feel towards the end. Not really that big of a problem for me personally, but for some others, it could be, I imagine. Perhaps also not really a problem, but kinda redundant in my book, is the cover of Sodom's "Christ Passion", which is one that wasn't really necessary for me.

This is a heavy and intense offering of 90's brutality, a release that fits in snugly with the early works of bands such as Aborted, Kadath, Sintury, Fleshgrind, and of course Suffocation and Dying Fetus, but in a somewhat simpler way. Far from overcomplicated, Teratoma let their music royally hit the spot through sheer force and intensity, and I like it all the better for it. A good album, that certainly deserves more appreciation, I say.

Rating: 8 out of 10