CoC : Anasarca - Godmachine : Review

Anasarca - _Godmachine_
(Repulse, 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10)

Anasarca have here a solid, listenable debut album which seems to me to be the cream of Repulse's current crop. The label's description of them as "a mixture of the grinding US and "melodical" European style" of death metal is pretty accurate, and over _Godmachine_'s 40 odd minute expanse one is treated to doses of each. Low-powerchord, bass-heavy chuggings and their double bass backing in the Cannibal Corpse-style is melded with, for example, Centinex-esque melodic manipulations. The result, which is peppered with blast sections, holds few more surprises, but is good within these boundaries. "Like Thorns in My Head" and "Scorn" particularly, have riffs which stick in the head and occasionally throughout the album there are parts where all the right factors combine to evoke the kind of dark and powerful feelings that death metal of this sort ultimately aims to achieve. Though I am curious about what "pretentious and brutal death/grind" (apparently the style of their earlier demo) is, I think that Anasarca have probably moved forward to better things with _Godmachine_. However, they are not, as is claimed, "The best German death metal band", an accolade which I bestow on Impending Doom [CoC #34].

(article published 16/1/1999)