Rating: 5.6

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Sevared Records

Track list:
1. Basement Decompostions
2. Purging Decay Afterlife
3. Larval Apocalypse
4. Crepitating Decapitation
5. Gestational Disgorgement
6. Disposed Whore Mutilation
7. Copulation of Necrotic Remains
8. Basement Demo 2005
9. Crepitating Demo 2005

Band Website: Grotesque Formation

Grotesque Formation - Basement Decompositions

Larry Ramirez - Drums
Will Guzman - Bass
Shawn Whitaker - Vocals
Chris Lopez - Guitars, Bass

Already familiar with other Shawn Whitaker bands namely Insidious Decrepancy and Viral Load, I didn't feel the need to consult my psychic cow ruminating blissfuly in the shed before purchasing the debut album of Grotesque Formation, another band Shawn's involved in. As their album name strongly suggests, Basement Decompositions consists of songs they apparently wrote in their basement from 2001-2005, and quite frankly the brutal death metal world wouldn't have missed a hell lot had they remained down there.

Basement Decompositions isn't about exquisite wines that would taste better having spent a few years in the basement; it's about brutal death metal, which in this case sounds rather stale and out of touch with the current scene standards. I'm not undermining their efforts because they have indeed put in some - it's definitely not sloppy rehearsals that they have recorded over here. The songs have the gusto of charging fat pigs that have just been released out of their enclosure and the repressed raw power which they won't feel shy to demonstrate if one were to hold them back. But then again it's just Suffocation worship that's happening here, from Effigy of the Forgotten to Breeding The Spawn, and with the music sounding as fresh as the cunt of a 90-yr old prostitute, I don't think any amount of imitative Suffo-seducing is likely to give you a solid, lasting boner. Even the much sought after maturity factor wouldn't hold much appeal here I'm afraid.

Admittedly, the songs are decently performed with all the members chipping in equally. A few alluring drag-chugs can be heard in their de-compositions and occasionally they manage to create parts that would elicit a nod of approval even from the most hard to please brutal death fan. But as a whole it's like a lousy chicken sub where there the quantity of chicken is grossly unbalanced because of the filler leafy vegetables, and if that's not bad enough, you end up getting the bland taste of the disproportionately huge bread encasing it. More variegated stuffings and sauces are desperately required to make it palatable. The unmistakable basement production is passable with its crude, rudimentary sound that adds to the aura Grotesque Formation are trying to create for themselves. Perhaps a sound like that of Disgorged would've helped in obscuring their dearth of originality and inventiveness by the addition of a dark and intriguing quality to this album. The artwork does well in that regard to pique your the interest and conjure up the sick feel, but it's sad when better things can be said about it than the music.

November 12th, 2006