AT LONG LAST we get the highly anticipated debut long player from the US west coast's sickest grinding death metallers MEPHITIC CORPSE. Without a doubt, this was worth the wait!
First up - back in 2019-20, MEPHITIC CORPSE quickly became the talk of the death metal/grindcore underground - "Immense Thickening Vomit" was widely (and rightly) received as one of the best demos since the early-mid 1990s. Its three agonizingly heavy, nauseating, gut-churning tracks went a long way in establishing them and "Immense..." saw seven separate releases between 2019 and 2022 as demand for it just kept increasing [I put out the CD version on Terrible Mutilation, and it was the only release that I cleared production costs for 500 copies on from direct sales! That's saying something for an Australian label these days]. As the demo got around, and the years passed, anticipation for the next release built, and built... and built. Finally, six years later, we get "Sickness Attracts Sickness" and it is clear that these fellas spent the years honing their craft in a way that very few put the time and effort in for now.
MEPHITIC CORPSE have dialed up the intensity in every facet on "Sickness...". There has been no departure from anything established on "Immense...", but instead a laser-focus has been applied on fine-tuning every element that made the demo a raging success in every way. They tread the line between early-mid 1990s brutal death metal, grindcore and goregrind (sans pitchshifter) perfectly, and their songwriting skills are second-to-none. Every riff, its duration and transition between one section to the next are engineered for maximum impact while still somehow retaining some degree of memorability - an exceedingly difficult task, especially after 30+ years and thousands of people essentially doing a very similar thing. There are twists, turns and unconventional arrangements that make you think "why does no-one else do this?!" - to be clear, it's not a "tech" record by any means, but the song structures are cleverly arranged so as to often catch you off guard with a lightning-fast change, only to bring the meat back around again with a tastefully-placed chug or blast.
Of particular note is that not only is the album wildly brutal in an authentically mid-1990s fashion, there is also a very perverse, disassociated and deranged atmosphere that pervades the entire record, and remarkably, this is done without really deviating at all from the core formula of HEMDALE, IMMORTAL FATE and the early periods of DEEDS OF FLESH and EXHUMED (aka no dissonant or vaguely "melodic" phrasing in the guitars). What does help achieve this is the incredibly juicy, warm, semi-lo-fi analogue recording and production; the grit and grime of yesteryears' demos and EPs is all over "Sickness...". It's a total sonic feast for the freaks that it's aimed at - this means huge, heaving, sizzling, low-tuned guitars spitting frenetic, crazed tremelo lines, cranium-cracking chugs and piercing squeals; a rich, squelching, splattering, distorted bass; ultra-low growls reminiscent of Matt Rositano and '91-'93 Chris Barnes; and blasting drums that (again) bring to mind HEMDALE's most grinding era (EXHUMED, DISGUST splits and "Four Dollar Ohio Kings" tracks) in their sonic character - a tight, poppy, snare with a hard crack (not ping) and dense, natural kick drum and tom sounds. My only small gripe is that the legibility of the fast riffs can suffer due to this kind of production, and that for a full length, I'd have liked a touch more definition. But, again, the aforementioned palpable sense of physical and mental malaise really sets this above the rest, and any small difference of preference in the guitar mix does nothing to detract from "Sickness..." being so menacing and imposing. It feels fucking gross and you should just go and buy this album right now. 28 minutes of some of the best death/grind in many years. Very highly recommended and will be a "best of 2025" for many of us, I'm sure. LP on Extremely Rotten (DK), Headsplit (USA) and 625 Thrash (USA) / CD on Headsplit.
LISTEN/BUY:
https://mephiticcorpse.bandcamp.com/album/sickness-attracts-sickness
https://headsplitrecords.storenvy.com/