Rating: 8.0

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Comatose Music

Track list:
1. Exchanging Perversities
2. Scarification
3. Intolerable Cruelty
4. Licking Bacterial Ecstacy [mp3]
5. When Anesthesia Fails
6. Embryonic Breeding For Cannabalistic Devourment
7. Raging Swarm
8. Ejaculate To Exterminate
9. Purity Through Dismemberment

Band Website: Lust of Decay

Lust of Decay - Purity Through Dismemberment

Jay Barnes - Vocals
Steve Green - Guitars
Joe Payne - Bass
Jordan Varela - Drums




I've been away from the reviewing thing for quite some time, but I felt this record deserved a bit of special effort. With 'Purity Through Dismemberment', Lust of Decay have elevated themselves above the seemingly endless mass of clones to produce one of the most extreme records of their relatively short career. With the first and to a lesser degree, second record, I'm not really sure if anyone within the enclave of Brutal Death Metal truly took this band seriously. I've followed Lust Of Decay from their inception and my days writing for Ad Nauseum 'zine. What I'm now witnessing is the transformation from second rate slightly unoriginal opening band to a fine-tuned killing machine fully capable of standing on their own. Jordan Varela has finally learned to control his drumming, ousting his suffocating and stifling rolls and fills in favor of a more steady, but nevertheless extreme hand. Jay Barnes' vocals are as vehement and varied as ever, and now with Steve Green handling the guitar, there seems to be a more complex edge to their music. Joe Payne's bass playing skills are no less competent, while not being quite as over top as Payne and Varela's Domination Through Impurity was with their Comatose debut 'Essence of Brutality'. There is a very noticable difference between Lust of Decay circa 2001 and Lust of Decay in their current incarnation. Lust Of Decay formerly used the verse as a vehicle for the "payoff" riff, and everything ultimately led up to that one single riff that made the song worth listening to. This method of writing made for a tedious spin, and finds the listener's attention span dwindling through the course. This is certainly not the case anymore, as some songs blow by in a constant barrage of razor sharp riffs and disorientingly bizarre rhythmic patterns, while others, such as "Licking Bacterial Ecstasy" are more standard issue blasting slam-fests ala Putrilage. On some songs, like "When Anesthesia Fails" they even manage to surprise me by throwing some very melodic lead guitar work into the mix before reverting to something sounding more like Prophecy's 'Our Domain'. The ideas that only existed in part on 'Infesting The Exhumed' and 'Kingdom Of Corpses' are now being fully expressed and the listener can now derive what has become a definitive Lust of Decay sound. Sure, they may draw influences from here and there, some being more obvious than others, but there's much more creative strength in this bunch than I think the lot of you give them credit for. Don't mistake this for a particularly cerebral experience, but it is extraordinarily heavy and engaging.

Although it's a rather short affair, clocking in at just under 30 minutes, 'Purity Through Dismemberment' is intense and enjoyable throughout, I'm pleased to say. The louder you play it, the better it sounds. Opting to record with Bob Moore at The Sound Lab in Columbia, SC, I think the band made a very wise decision. The recording is crisp and clear, with a full, but never overpowering low-end that this music requires to capture one's attention. The packaging, design, layout of the disc is also top-notch and extremely professional. Cheers to Steve Green of Lust Of Decay for his overwhelming success with Diabolic Design, a subsidiary of his label Comatose Music. Hopefully, some industry notables will catch on to what a great job he's doing with the current crop of Comatose releases and send some work his way.

The whole of this is Lust of Decay, it's just much better than it's ever been before. So, needless to say, if you've been a fan in the past as I was/am, then this will undoubtedly please you. If you've never heard them before now, and you're into Devourment, Putrid Pile, Goretrade, or Prophecy, or any other bands of a similar ilk, there's never been a better time to become a fan. The fact of the matter is, this is simply better than the current output of any of those aforementioned bands. And probably the best platter of splatter I've heard since Despondency's 'God on Acid' almost 3 years ago. Now, I'm not saying what they've produced is a genre-defying classic of any kind, but it's certainly damn good, worthy of recognition, and a marked improvement over everything prior. Lust of Decay are now firmly poised to reside within the annals of the Death Metal genre, and if their track record of subsequent improvement with each release holds true with the next one, it'll be even more frighteningly brutal and better than this. I can't wait.

March 5th, 2006