Artist: Necrophagist
Label: Willowtip
Release Date: 9/14/04
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: Onset Of Putrefaction (Reissue) Artist: Necrophagist Label: Willowtip Release Date: 9/14/04
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Slither (9/10/04):
Onset of Putrefaction: landmark of virtuosic death metal. No matter how many times accolades are shoveled on top of this album it seems there is always room for a bit more praise. Perhaps now more so than before, as we stand on the eve of this monumental album's re-release through Willowtip records. As an abstract concept, the re-release is a bit of a tricky beast for the consumer to tackle; occasionally used by labels as a cheap vehicle for quick gains in a sagging fiscal quarter, but by the same token they can also be vitally important conduits for a forgotten classic to visit the ears of a new generation. Without a doubt, the latter is the case with this fine slab of technical death metal. In a storm of hyphenated prefixes this album has been re-mixed, re-sampled, re-mastered and had its art re-worked. On top of all this two excellent demo tracks have been added to the end of the album, seeming to punctuate the end of what can only be referred to as a total package.The most common word found plastered across the stickers adorning albums making their way through pressing plant for the second time is "Re-Mastered" For those unfamiliar with studio jargon, mastering in its most base explanation is volume tinkering. At the highest level of the profession it involves massive rooms filled with different compressors, equalizers and various digital simulators for things like tape saturation. But when it comes right down to it, if an album has been re-mastered, you won't have to turn it up as loud as you did the last time, and some of the critical frequencies may be a bit clearer. With this Necrophagist release, they went all out and started from scratch with the original tapes. The mix has been totally re-worked and the end result is magnificent. The new drum tracks (new samples placed in the original sequences programmed by Muhammed) fit seamlessly with the material, and for those of you worried that some damage may have been done to the oodles of Lydian runs and sweep picking goodness, I say to you, "Fear not, for this shit still slays!" The final polish on this album has done nothing but good for the overall sound but in very subtle ways. The cymbals are less tinny, the drum kit has a beefier midrange and the guitars come across thicker and find themselves situated in a more comfortable place in the mix.
Due to the near non-existence original copies, many people still have not heard of this phenomenal release, let alone spent a romantic evening alone with it in front of the fire. If you like tech death and you still haven't heard this album; it is your duty in the name of good taste to have a copy on pre-order from Tipton.
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