(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by San Diego’s Pathology.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uq7ZGpznQs
This is what we in the biz refer to as FUCKING BRUTAL AS ALL FUCKING FUCK SHIT!
Pathology have the odd factor of being a Victory Records band — a fact that usually would be an omen which instantly communicates to you that the band sucks horribly. But Pathology are no slouches in their craft, having trained in a blood-soaked monastery like Shaolin monks, mastering the art of something that can only be referred to as “The Brutal Way”: Learning how to punch massive gaping holes through the stomachs of their opponents via trudging grooves, severing the arteries of their enemies with fierce technical riffage and fast tremolo picking sections, mastering the art of crushing their opponents’ skulls so violently, with the most massive of slams, that their eyeballs pop out.
This. Is. Death. Metal.
Pathology have, however, channeled their own sound on their new album, Awaken To The Suffering. I always viewed them as a death metal band, shamelessly following the Suffocation school of thought, something for which they were never faulted despite that obvious shamelessness. They were quite good before, but this album is something else. The biggest change from before to now is the addition of a new vocalist. Jonathan Huber IS the sound of blood being gurgled in the mouth of the most vile of monsters. You can’t understand a fucking word the man says, but if you give a shit about that you’ve ENTIRELY missed the point. He brings that final dose of menace and “OH SHIT!” to the mix.
The other huge change is the abandonment of the band’s more mid-90’s flavoring in favor of a more modern, extremely slam-heavy direction. That change has given Pathology a more defined and distinctive identity; they stand out more to me now then they did before.
On this album, you’ll find only two modes of experience: Either you’re being sonically eviscerated by a phalanx of distorted nail guns or you’re being crushed by slamming tombstones of ancient stone taken from the most decrepit and decayed of graveyards. The riffs are massive. They’re brutal, atonal, and angular — superb. The drums are junky sounding, the sound of a trash compactor crushing solid matter and breaking down in the process, short-circuiting, losing its artificial life as it attempts to fulfill its only purpose, making cacophonous noise that befits this sonic juggernaut. The massive bass underneath only beefs up the album’s sound even more. And of course Jonathan Huber’s blood gurgles supply the final ingredient to the carnage.
This is a great slam death album. ONE OF THE BEST I’VE EVER HEARD! My last words about this album?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Yedbio2jM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBiQUauWAS0
12 Responses to “PATHOLOGY: “AWAKEN TO THE SUFFERING””
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Now this is what I’m motherfuckin’ talkin’ ’bout.
Where’s my eatin’ flesh????
Also: according to Amazon, the CD/MP3s is/are not available until September 13th. Apparently.
DAMN YOUR TEASING! AT LEAST HELP ME FINISH!! I GOT DEATH METAL BLUE BALLS!!
The whole thing is uploaded to Youtube I believe. Go get sonically devoured.
WHEEEEEEEEE!!!
I guess I’ll be back as Pathology’s excrement later…
Oh, the joy!
Phro will have to change his name to ProcessedMeatSperm.
I pre-ordered the CD/shirt bundle from Victory because I wanted the shirt with that very nice album cover on it, and it arrived on Friday. Sept 13 is the official release date, but I guess they filled the pre-orders early.
Yeah that album art is fucking rad. It has that classic metal album feel. Its grim yet flashy, simple yet with some fine details. Its familiar in that if you never heard of the band, you’d be certain it’s a package for death metal, yet the image has enough to be distinct. Its not exactly an action image, yet its still Kinetic; you can see something is going on (as opposed to a statci picture of a skull or carcass).
Thats the best part to me: It feels like its telling a story, but you can make up whatever crazy scenario you want and it makes you enjoy it even more.
Im imagining the Guy with the tie is a doctor who through sinister research has finally perfected his t-virus-ike genetic research and has incubated an army of undead murderers to do his bidding. That guy pleading for his life is maybe the CEO of the biochem corp, a rival doctor who ridiculed his work, or it could even be a government official, surrendering unconditionally to the new world necrotic order.
Fuck it, im gonna go order this on amazon right now.
that “doctor” also apeared on their last album, surrounded by those zombie dudes, so maybe their are teling some kind of gore tale.
Here’s a good shot of the album art from the artist Par Olofsson’s web site:
http://www.parolofsson.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Pathology_2_web.jpg
There’s a different piece of artwork on the back cover of the CD, with “the doctor” looking down the hill at a city and a horde of zombie creatures charging down toward it in front of him. But I can’t find an image on the net.
Between this and Dying Fetus, Slam is having a little golden age!
“Jonathan Huber IS the sound of blood being gurgled in the mouth of the most vile of monsters”
you can have all my internets sir, best description ever.