With every single music lover, there’s always a line that each individual has when it comes to their own taste. Some don’t like acoustics, some detest electronic effects, and some dislike when everything’s too intense. For me, a lot of my preferences end where the metal tends to get ridiculously violent and everything becomes an X-rated blur. Yet, I like to venture beyond the comfort zone every now and then. This latest incursion took me to Limbsplitter whose variety of brutal death metal is undoubtedly scathing.
Right from that horrific cover art, I was already compelled to turn away from this record simply because I know that my track record with brutal death has not been the best despite some true gems like Gutslit. It’s those gems that keep me periodically coming back to see what else the genre has for me, and while Limbsplitter is far from a band that I can see myself coming to love I can happily say that their debut album, “Chloroform Cocktail”, is entertaining in the most demented and sadistic ways imaginable. Being malicious and having an undeniable attitude that persists through every atom of the album is something that brutal death has been known for, and Limbsplitter fucking nailed it. The eight ragers of “Chloroform Cocktail” don’t piss about for even a second as immediately the first track presents an incredibly unsettling tone while the rest of the record pounds you into a pulsating mass of red, seething on the fucking floor. There’s no room for survivors with this album, and Limbsplitter dismembers, devours, disembowels, and fucking annihilates you for every second of their bloodbath. A true spell of rage and malevolence, Limbsplitter takes every advantage they can to drive home the nails into your skull with the vicious pace of everything, rip off your limbs by the sound of the vocals alone, and make you relive the horror again and again as one track flows into the next. “Chloroform Cocktail” feels what brutal death metal should sound like: punishing, and every single bit of this album shows that Limbsplitter clearly understands such a concept.
Much like my feelings toward grind, brutal death is still a long way off from being a genre that I can honestly say that I genuinely enjoy. But my search for the best that I can find from those genres will never end, and Limbsplitter has been a very good step towards my journey through brutal death. “Chloroform Cocktail” has got everything one could ask for from an album of the style, and Limbsplitter has executed it all with laser precision.
LISTEN to “Chloroform Cocktail” via YouTube here.
LIKE Limbsplitter on Facebook here.
SUPPORT Limbsplitter’s label, Unmatched Brutality Records, for plenty things of brutal death metal via here!
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