CORPUS OFFAL: “CORPUS OFFAL”

(Our Norway-based contributor Chile has a lot of ghastly and glowing things to say about the debut album from Texas-based Corpus Offal, which erupted in a spray of 20 Buck Spin‘s intestines on March 21st.)

I would say, in general and on average, I am more of a black metal fan than a death metal fan, looking back at both my listening habits over the years and the end-year lists (not yet here on No Clean Singing, so take this as a warning come December). Scientifically speaking, it’s a 65.212 to 34.788 ratio, but who’s counting. Anyway, admittedly, this year has been so far very tempting in that matter, threatening to turn the scales towards a more even split in said preferences.

Reason for this is, first and foremost, this gloriously twisted 2025 being already stacked full of fantastic death metal and we’re only three months in. Smoking hot, fermenting, rotting mounds of body parts stretching as far as the eye can see, what’s not to love? This is not just the onset of putrefaction, it is a full-blown bloom of abnormal flesh.

Poetically appropriate then, that we are visited today by the entity of Corpus Offal which rises from the corpse of another great American death metal band, namely Cerebral Rot, which dissolved last year after releasing two monster albums a couple of years back.

photos by Chris Eaton

It made sense then that the core members Ian Schwab (guitars and vocals) and Clyle Lindstrom (guitars) chose to continue their visceral adventures by forming a new band, adding more bodies to the pile, them being Jesse Shreibman on drums (also of Bell Witch) and Jason Sachs (ex-Demoncy) on bass. Corpus Offal promptly released a demo with two tracks not long after the formation just to give fans a taste of things to come, with both of those songs reimagined for the self-titled debut album that just came out on March 21st on 20 Buck Spin.

To allay any misunderstandings beforehand, this is very much the continuation of the Cerebral Rot line of expansively suppurating, bottom-dwelling, downright suffocating brand of death metal, both in songwriting and riff-delivering departments. At the same time, there is also a notable evolution in the sound, because the band seem intent on pushing the proverbial envelope even further into the depths of the abattoir of abhorrations.

The ominous intro “(Into) Purging Creation” makes a statement right-off with its demented narration of a serial killer about the feelings of overwhelming frenzy when killing someone, the veritable poetry of viscera. The scene is set for “Spinous Forms of Mortal Abhorrence” which dives straight in with a buzzsaw for that prime cut. Riffs abound and the band keep twisting the blade through the whole seven and a half minutes of maniacally stabbing the weak flesh, just like some writers trying to cram in as much murdering analogies in their texts as possible.

Anyway, going forward the band do not falter, even taking into account the lengthy fifty minutes of this album which will probably test many a listener. This should not be a problem though, for there are many rewards to be had even in the shorter six-minute tracks like “Essence of Dissolution” or “Gorging Gastric Decedent”. Generously vivid lyrics about “plagued corpse of succulence” or the “simmering slop of moist mucosa”, just to name a few, perfectly complement the monumental sound of the band grinding out those filthy riffs.

Even on a more grandiose scale, both the title track of the album and “Ripened Psychosis” turn up the variation meter and blunder us with some of the downright nastiest guitar playing heard this year. It is somewhat fascinating that Corpus Offal can sound both very old school and on the frontier of death metal, all in a matter of seconds. Schwab’s bellows from the deep accentuate this, menacingly and purposefully spewing out the aforementioned lyrics with a rarely encountered ease.

Lastly, following the venerated metal tradition of ending your album with an epic track, the band treat us to the twelve minutes of “Secreted Effluence (Spilling)” with the classic one-two punch of a slow, calm intro exploding into a beastly ravager of a song. Hitting the stride straight off, secreting and excreting riffs through the orifices known and unknown, the song is a whirlwind of fretboard-sliding entrails, ending in a twisted, cacophonous outro of sorts. For those in need of a visual stimulant to accompany all this, the album’s cover art made by the talented Karina Monzon is a fair assessment.

In the end, simply put, this is a fantastic record that is death metal through and through, right down to the severed bone, and should be used as an example in an encyclopedia entry for the genre in general. Kudos also to 20 Buck Spin for their continuing support of the putrid scene and a fantastic run of great releases.

The band will make its European debut in early September at Kill-Town Death Fest in Copenhagen, so it will be a perfect, and also the only, chance this year to witness the might of these songs in a live setting (in Europe, at least).

Corpus Offal is out now on 20 Buck Spin in all available formats. Fans in the U.S. can see Corpus Offal during their U.S. tour in April and May, which will a set at the Maryland Deathfest XX official pre-fest on May 21st.

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