• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

These brutal Spaniards return with their second splattered platter of vicious death metal thanks to those kindly folk at Xtreem Music. Spain is a country renowned for their brutal death metal bands, and they certainly have yet another competent band for their roster in Human Mincer, who follow in the well-trodden path of Suffocation, albeit with a slightly more grinding technical edge to their sound, not unlike Gorgasm or perhaps even later era Gorguts.

Having been in existence since 1996, they certainly prove on this release that they have honed their art to a tee, with incisive and precise musicianship throughout. From the very off, the brutal down-tuned crushing carnage of riffs (littered with artificial harmonic squeals, naturally) combined with the avalanche of blastbeats raging psychotically, almost literally blow you away like a veritable tornado of gory hatred. Sure, like a lot of bands they're not re-inventing any wheels with this album, but there is a spark of inventiveness behind it all which keeps it all interesting and highly worthwhile (especially for those brutal death aficionados out their like myself).

The slower more grinding riff work on offer here is equally significant in its demeanor, increasing the already great atmosphere of the band's sound, adding an air of dark dynamism to the tone. All this is wrapped up in the perfect warm and bassy production for this style of metal, where the riffs are all easily distinguishable note for note without having to strain yourself to an ear hernia (?!) over the cascading tsunami of drums. This is precisely the type of album that must be cranked up to eleven for maximum enjoyment (much to my neighbors aggravation I'm sure), to simply allow yourself to be completely immersed in the absorbing torrent of downtuned face removing beats and stomach hammering riffage.

My only grumble about the album is that at little over 27 minutes in length, it's too short… but I guess that is why the invention of the 'repeat' button was made obligatory for all stereo systems. Although certainly not genre defining, and not up there with the all time classics, it's certainly a greatly enjoyable CD for those brutal deathsters living among us to lay their hands on.