Rating: 8.9

Country: USA

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Eosinophilis Tognosia
2. Sisoriacanthromdebic Carcinoma - Lining the Vulvovaginal Lrichomoniasis
3. Zacre
4. Dyerrhea Pallidum
5. Cut into Pieces [Vengeance Rising]
6. Neuro-Dimebag Exhumation
7. Dementia Infinita
8. Thoracic Gallagonal Aspiration
9. Coronary Artery Thrombosis with Posterior Wall Myocardial Fibrosis [mp3]
10. Adipocere: Sinking, Putrefaction and Re-floating
11. Expansion of Subpleural Petachiae: Heamodulation and Heamolysis
12. Lupus Nephritis

Pustulated - Haematoma

Andres - Guitars, Vomit Reflux
Cory - Guitars
Chad - Drums

Excellent! I love Pustulated, so I was more than glad to receive this, because I see them as one of the more promising acts of today's omnipresent Broootal flock. Although debut outing 'Pathognomic Purulency' left me somewhat displeased due to some of its more predictable, hackneyed elements, the EP showed enough potential to prompt me to purchase their second release, 'Inherited Cryptorchidism'. If 'Patho.' was the sound of yet another Brutal Death Metal band safely tucked away in their warm, bile-clotted nest, then the follow-up was the unmistakable sound of the same band spreading their hefty, tattooed wings and fluttering beyond their overcrowded, chuggy-chug-tree, in order to explore the more experimental areas of the forest. Unfortunately, I missed out on the other release, which I think was a split with ultra-boisterous purveyors of filth, Copromesis, but I can only imagine the Pustulated portion of the play surface served as another logical stepping-stone towards the highly refreshing 'Haematoma', an album that has done well to reawaken my interest in the genre.

The album features all the compulsory bits [chug, blast, reeeee, slam], using them as a butch foundation for their progressive ideas instead of just replicating, re-duplicating and re-duplo-replicating them for twenty five minutes. I was pleased to hear the solo-strings being used thoughtfully within the riffs, advancing beyond the standard harmonic squall-flashes. In amongst the seething savagery, there is a sporadic sprinklin' of curious, sometimes whimsical drum/percussion methods, unusual diversions and changes, transcendent, red-eyed guitar-work and swirly, hallucinogenic passages, all of which are applied with good humour. Because the sound has advanced so far beyond the original template, when the obvious riffs do come around, some of 'em sound almost tongue-in-cheek. This experimental approach is not confined to just the songwriting and instrumentation, seeing as it is also employed in terms of production, the subtle fluctuations in sound quality levels from one song to the next adding another dimension to the album. Whilst one track might sound clear 'n' scything, the next might sound mud-smothered and oversaturated in comparison. This expands the listener interest beyond the songwriting and performance, the slightly erratic production offering a variety of representations of the sound as the tracklist plays out. It seems that the bluntest of the riffs have been produced in such a way that they come across as enormously oversaturated, the low-end rumble accented to such an excess that it'll result in severe flatulence of your speaker cones.

The forward-thinking approach and flouting of Brootality principles reminds me of the alas defunct Dripping, and perhaps United Guttural's finest, Bound and Gagged. Having scoured their medical dictionaries, the resulting lyrical themes of Pustulated come across as a more comprehensible version of the kind of pathological vomit extruded by acts such as Lymphatic Phlegm, Neurovisceral Exhumation, older Disgorge [Mex] and of course Paracoccidiodomocosisproctitisarcomucosis. Plenty of wordy succulence, though I was upset to note that my favourite bacterial choliform, stapyloccoccus, didn't feature amongst the titles.

Renowned blast addict Chad Walls puts in a reassuringly complex, ultra-fast performance on the drumkit, his ultra-fast barrage switching from total snare-rattle insanity to devastating tom-tom bludgeon to leisurely, rolling breaks with ease. On 'Inherited.', I found Andres infamous 'vomit reflux' to be slightly more diverse than on this release which sees the progressive component eliminated from the vokill equation. This is a shame, seeing as further enhancements of the reflux would've complemented the musical advancements of 'Haematoma'.

There's fun to be had at the middle of the tracklist, whereby the band pay amusing tribute to the deceased Pantera guitarist by means of a track entitled "Neuro Dimebag Exhumation". The song involves a cover version of the intro and chorus from tuff-guy bench-press power-workout gym classick, "Walk", with the guitars duly downtuned dozens of steps down from Dime and the vokills pitchshifted into pure gut-sludge. There's further laughs to be had with what sounds like a splash of sped up South Park samples during a song a bit later on in the album.

Of the different ways in which a Brutal Death band might fail to hold listener interest once the initial astonishment induced by the rapidity of the blasts or the borborygmic vokills has subsided, the most prominent is the steadfast refusal to inject even the slightest dose of structural versatility, atmospherics or originality into their material. Pustulated avoid this by combining the usual Brutals with inspiring segues and buffers, all of which are atypical of the style. These are utilised sparingly, presumably in order that the primary purpose of the album, namely the ultra-heavy bludgeon and crush, remains central. It's a pity about the vokill regression and the decidedly minimal use of the lilting, experimental incongruence that does well to spatter the broootal canvas in new shades of chyme. Overall, a fun, inspirational and surprising album by a band who've attempted to oxygenate the wheezing Brutal Death Metal sub-genre with invaluable innovations and new ideas.

May 4th, 2006