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Production: Morrisound-era thick and unified production.
Review: With typical Floridian death metal aplomb, Resurrection forge a poetry of violence from a primal rhythm and a microfugue of counterthemes that when played in linear time, create an ambience of pattern variation that suggests possibility more than certainty, and in its protean redirection of structure between riff and chorus and the paired themes that introduce them, gives songs a chance like small cities to specialize in distinct variations for each function they introduce. Lacking the outright jaunty bounce and chorus throb of heavy metal, this style aims for "heavy" by resolving offbeats into cadences and using expectation of rhythm to create emptiness when configured so that its fulfillment occurs through a lack of complement.
Tracklist:
1. Disembodied
2. Rage Within
3. Embalmed Existance
4. Smell of Blood
5. Torture Chamber
6. Eyes of Blind
7. Test of Fate
8. Pure Be Damned
9. War Machine (KISS cover)
Length: 38:43
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Copyright © 1993 Relapse
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Like most Tampa-style death metal, these songs divide their time between rapid strumming of notes and chords and a clattering, staggered collision between continuity and abrupt poise in interruption, leading to comparisons to Obituary and Malevolent Creation in their specific mix. The vocalist prefers an extended whispershriek like that of the black metal which followed this style chronologically, draping phrases in halftime with translucent sound. The combination builds rhythm aggressively in the classic death metal style, with the martial drumming of Alex Marquez accenting each riff with prescience of where it will fit into the overall maze; like all good ciphers, death metal is axiomatic: once its initial boundary and precepts are accepted, the final set of themes return order to what otherwise seem like chaotic tangents unrelated to the fundamental patterns of the song.
One technique overused here is the tendency of leading up to a pause, and then letting rhythmic anticipation fuel the suspension of listener disbelief necessary to accept the next riff pattern as integral, but this is endemic to rock music and metal as a whole. Although songs are similar in technique, their moods are distinctive, and the basic cadences of the band become universal enough to be seen as style and not individualized song. Unfortunately, some idiot tells "clever" microstories at the beginning of each track, ranting about cliched topics like insanity, depravity and misanthropy. This poor decision turned more metalheads away from this album than can be counted, preventing this album of moderate quality from being recognized as a part of the death metal pantheon.
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