Artist: Comparative Anatomy
Album: Mammalia
Label: Mind Flare Media
Year: 2010
Format: CD
This album contains rhythmic hardcore metal meeting breakcore meeting samplism. It’s like taking a walk through a nightmarish zoo. Every track presents samples of different mammals and rips them apart with brutal distorted guitar and thrashing drums. Other disturbing samples are thrown in there as well, like people screaming and the naive, giddy sound of childs’ toys. The effect is disorienting and discomforting on most of the tracks, particularly “Eruption of Cats,” which made me want to physically vomit.
Everything is pretty interesting here. For the most part the instrumentation has this lo-fi, hardcore, black metal intensity to it but elements of post-rock sludge and grime creep in from time to time as well. The samples are thrown in and used to an almost nauseating excess (not that this is a bad thing), but this is nicely offset with the playing. There’s very little in the way of melody but more so than the usual noise album you’re going to find. The melody that does creep in is usually so amped on distortion that it really rips up the stereo.
Comparative Anatomy have honestly accomplished something quite original and interesting. Throwing in dramatic relief and all sorts of dynamic components the album could definitely be compared to a walk through a rabies infested zoo. Positively terrifying.
2 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Hey, thanks for the review! This album is rabbit poop in comparison to our newer, more mature approach. When the new album comes out we’ll have the label send you one! Just one comment, we don’t use any guitars. All the music is written on bass only. Mine is tuned specially and thrown through a bunch of things. This is why it is the lightning treble bass of the thunder serpents.
This is the best comment EVER! You have won… except a bass is a guitar. A bass guitar, even if it is born of the thunder serpents and sends shockwaves of terror into all you come near.
I’m looking forward to the next one!