Rating: 8.0

Country: Italy

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Waltz of Desperation
2. Oblivion
3. Poisoned Human Flesh
4. Infected Dreams [mp3]

Septycal Gorge - Delivering Hidden Mutilation

Mariano Soma - Vokills
Deigo Riccobene - Guitars
Davide Boeri - Drums
Marco Mallamo - Guitars
Giampaolo Fiore - Bass

Like the name strongly suggests, Septycal Gorge play gory brutal death metal, but what it doesn't suggest is that they're from Italy and they're going to rule your ass. I've been delivered here with a four-song promo EP, their first ever studio material, aptly titled ‘Delivering Hidden Mutilation'.

Bringing up a basketful of rotten tomatoes, I placed it in front of my speakers and sat before it. You see, your over-enthusiastic Indian champ wanted to feel the sickness, be one with the sickness, which was soon to emanate from the speakers. As if giving a toast before the session began, I held up a putrid seeping tomato in my hand that was destined to be squashed into my face and then the resulting bloodlike ketchup was to be smeared liberally all over my body upon hearing the first notes of this sickening gore-drenched brutality. “Waltz of Desperation” was the first song to waltz out of my speakers and it's impact threw me backwards followed by my basket that came over my head, eager to protect me I guess. Resiliently I raised the basket slightly over my ears and holy fucking shit, it was indeed a riff of the mighty Incantation! No wonder! Immediately I threw aside the basket and prostrated myself in front of the speakers. By playing an Incantation riff under the epithet of Septycal Gorge, my reaction was like that of a farmer who while milking his cow discovered that it was giving beer instead of milk.

I tell you, that Incantation riff is truly genuine and sounds like it was borrowed from ‘The Infernal Storm'. But it's not solely Incantation worship that's happening here, so I surreptitiously got up and regained my sitting position. It's alternated first with Broken Hope style clobbering and then with Cannibal Corpse tinged riffs - of those the jumpy energetic ones are remindful of early Aborted, all virtuously enhanced with the expected goriness thus bringing the tomatoes well into play. In the next song “Oblivion”, the Incantation riffs are cannily replaced by Putrid Pile-like riffs, which apart from tearing my clothes, but I must say I accepted that change rather positively as I dig them too. They bring along with them those Eurodeath elements I discussed in my Putrid Pile review and of them I could discern traces of at least Anasarca.

Septycal Gorge also show some affinity with technical music, like in “Poisoned Human Flesh” where along with the Putrid Pile and Broken Hope parts, they are flirting with the stylings of Gorgasm and Insidious Decrepancy. Later in the same song you can hear them play riffs similar to those of Prostitute Disfigurement. All that jazz is thoughtfully interrupted by a slow, almost poignant riff like that of Immolation and it takes a while to realise that the next song “Infected Dreams” has already started. You are then cheered up by nice expansive Putrid Pile type riffs followed by nice Suffocation type pummelling. And just when your head begins to throb, it's again with that despairing Immolation-esque riff that the album draws to a close, making you collapse on the floor like an empty sack and weep bitterly at it's premature end.

Seriously, I pity you guys because I don't think this is for sale. But before you pop in one of your antidepressant pills, here's some good news: Septycal Gorge are releasing their full-length album very soon on Mutilated Records titled ‘Growing Seeds of Decay'. I fervently hope that they don't carried away and do something stupid. They've got the sound all right and the vocals comprising of guttural and gurgly growls as well as acerbic rasps are pretty neat too, so if they can only manage to proceed in this style - playing some real death metal riffs without compromising on their scrumptious gory brutal death brutality, and if possible adding a cool lead or two in their songs like Putrid Pile or Prostitute Disfigurement - then they're undoubtedly going to rule your ass. With 'Delivering Hidden Mutilation', they've already conquered mine and even planted their flag on it.

June 11th, 2006