Review by Carl on April 24, 2020.

I've got a soft spot for Meathook. It's not just the brutal death metal they churn out, it's also the thought that the nucleus of the band is formed by three brothers. It just makes me smile, like in the same way the three Tony's in Whiplash made me smile. It's one of those things...

Their music is as brutal as an explosion in a nursery. Not very original (if you're into the style you've heard it all before), but it's decently executed and it ticks all the boxes the brutal death addict wants to see checked. It's got the belching gutturals, the down tuned guitars and violently grating riffing. Slower parts alternate with grinding blasts throughout, which makes the songs showcase the needed variation that keeps it all from becoming one long song, which is a big plus in this genre. The album's got the right menacing atmosphere that this music has to emanate, and that atmosphere extends to the cool artwork as well. It's somewhat of a shame, though, that there are too many movie samples between the tracks, especially if you take into consideration that the album only lasts for 24 minutes. Something I have trouble with as well is the production of this little ditty. The overall sound is pretty compressed and that, together with the somewhat uneven mix, sucks part of the power out of the music. It knocks the balls out of the album and makes it sound kinda flat unfortunately. Subsequent releases by the band sound better, so we'll just stick this on the fact it's their first.

If you're into stuff like Viral Load, Putrid Pile, Eviscerated or US brutal death metal in general, and you don't mind a lesser production job, you can pick this one up. They've progressed noticeably on their later releases, but this one has that flawed charm that you can only find on certain debut releases.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10