Rating: 7.2

Country: Belgium

Release Date: 2005

Record Label: Pulsar Light

Track list:
1. Crushed Smashed Mangled
2. To Eat [MP3]
3. The Cunt Collector
4. Crushed Vagina
5. Fistfucked in the Throat
6. Sacrilege Christianity
7. Your Rotting Lips
8. Delicious
9. There is no God but Man
10. Wake up and Smell the Pus
11. C4 the Nitro Chewing Gum
12. Bubba

Total playing time 31:53

Band Website: Suhrim

Suhrim - The Cunt Collector

Johan Antonissen - Vocals/Bass
Jeroen Vingerhoed - Lead guitar 
Timmy De Beukeleer - Guitars
Paul Brunson - Drums

It all began when Suhrim, the “bulging” death metal band from Belgium which has been around forever (actually since the early ‘90s) had been attacked by 'Unidentified Flying Bodyparts' (their debut album) that resulted in 'Old Scars, Fresh Wound' (their compilation cd that was released after their debut) being inflicted in lets say, their private region and for some reason it made them really, really horny.

Thus began the fierce expedition of collecting cunts, as it seems, with the retracing of the firmly engraved footsteps of the forerunner Deranged (mainly 'Self-titled' and 'Plainfield Cemetary') while carrying their old school weapons on their back. Every once a while, during the middle (of the song) specially, they yanked out their heavy old weapons from their back and fired them valiantly in the air to charge themselves up. It made them grin and feel good but after realising that they did nothing of that sort yet, their proud grin converted into a sheepish one and they quickly scurried ahead. Half-way through their expedition they tagged up with another group of veterans consisting of the charismatic Hypocrisy ('Osculum Obscenum') and the audacious Dismember (mid-era) with its ugly deformed dog Murder Squad (first one) wearing a Autopsy collar. Now whether they eventually succeed in their expedition and to what extent is unknown, but a good adventure was ensured.

Now for some more details. They do well in following Deranged but they don't nearly match up to their class; comparatively Deranged are just too fast and tight for them and they also have a thoroughly established sound. Having said that, the production on this album isn't bad at all, in fact I'm quite pleased with their sound keeping in mind their tiny label (low budget I presume). They have this raw, abrasive though ill-defined sound which works well for them (their Deranged-esque guitar tone is cool too) but when they get in their thrashy mode, which happens a lot on this album, it's not handled very well. The guitarists slash their razor-sharp guitars frantically at you but the production buffers some of it disallowing the desired effect, kind of like the awful overdone censorship on this digipack cd that I have. Well, no problem, someone as empathetic as me would just go and start rubbing the shredder from the kitchen all over his body in a desperate attempt to reach out and connect with them when those super thrashy parts are played.

There are several occasions where I could hear some cool harmonies within songs that sound similar to Hypocrisy's 'Obsculum Obscenum' album and of course, more of that would be great. Then there are these thundering thumping parts which sound mostly like Deranged's blasting and sometimes they come excitingly close to sounding like Grave which can't be a bad thing at all. At times I could also hear traces of early Cannibal Corpse (in one particular song, the vocalist's weighty growls are delivered just like Chris Barnes' on their debut) and there are at least a couple of occasions where I could hear Panzerchrist riffs and one in particular ( “There is no God but Man”) even has an identical intro from their 'Soul Collector' album!

Some of the riffs are absolutely crushing, for instance the one which makes its fabulous pompous entry in their title song during the 1:50 min mark, and there are many such good ones but unfortunately for the most part these riffs sound derivative and I can't help shrug off the feeling that I've heard them all before. Also, next time they could try and write fewer songs but high quality ones– oh believe me, they can write some really good songs. The album also has its share of killer hooks which will cling onto your ass and make it sway mandatorily. There are only a couple of leads on this album and after hearing the ones on the song “Bubba” and their debut, I wonder why they don't play more of those. You know, it forms a vital part of the old school ammunition which shouldn't be left behind if you've decided that you're going to use it. Oh and the last song (a very good one that too) has a part where there is cat's meowing to be heard before they start blasting, classic part that!

Suhrim have shown a staggering improvement from their early days when they played a rather humdrum mid-‘90s form of death metal but now it seems they are taking things more seriously. By successfully injecting modern influences of bands like Deranged into their music, they have made 'The Cunt Collector' their fastest, tightest and their best material yet. And going by their rate of improvement, I believe this highly potent band might still have enough in them to pull another surprise on us. Give them a contemporary makeover and their impact will be felt not only in Belgium, but all over the world. Now I reckon you guys take off on an expedition to hunt this fine cd (it might need no less than an expedition to get hold of it!).

July 10th, 2005