Album Review: Debridement – Compositions of Decomposition
Reviewed by Dan Phipps
Based in Coleraine, Northern Ireland Debridement is the brainchild of Oncology and former Putrefy member Connor Brown. Debridement have been active since 2016 with Connor being the sole member handling all musical duties apart from physically playing drums (he does however handle the programming). Compositions of Decomposition is the 4th release, the 2nd of which is a full length album, sticking with the dependable formula of severe brutality mixed with some humour all wrapped up in one of the best pieces of artwork that Illinois based artist Gruesome Graphix has offered.
From the end of its opening sample “Brains” opens the record with a short display of heavy and slow guitar chugs and guttural vocals, it’s not an intro as sort but I feel that this track is more of an appetiser to prepare the listener for the bludgeoning which will follow. From this point Compositions of Decomposition goes full throttle with a barrage of high octane brutality and it doesn’t let up. Crushing guitars and drum programming which in all honesty is as good as it gets is found all through Compositions of Decomposition as each song gives you a severe dose of wretchedness.
The important thing with this release is the song writing is not one dimensional, it gives you tracks like “John Coxtolstoy” which is just a straight up groove filled number along with offering tracks which have a more straight up brutal death metal shredding style to compliment the groove elements a track such as “Under The Stairs” is the best example and it really gives you the best of both worlds on this record, fast and aggressive at points and then offering huge doses of groove when the slams hit. The vocals which apart from a couple of guest appearances from Matt Bishop & Connor Butler are all performed by Connor and they give you a series of putrid gutturals with some vicious higher styled vocals similar to how Exhumed would mix vocal styles on some of their records as an example. The tracks are also topped off with samples in various forms some add that little bit of humour to the release however this humour does not take away from the sheer brutality of the album.
When you go back and look at Compositions of Decomposition against past Debridement releases this record takes everything up a notch. The overall sound is so much better and fuller than the previous releases without substituting the quality and overall putrid sound of Debridement. This record will give you a beating over 13 rounds and I tell you what, you will keep going back for another round.
