CoC : Pyrexia - System Of The Animal : Review

Pyrexia - _System Of The Animal_
(Serious Entertainment, 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10)

"Oh my fucking God" -- not the Strapping Young Lad song, but a reaction which I had upon hearing this record. Pyrexia are seriously -heavy-, a fact illustrated by the downtuned guitars, massive, pounding kickdrums and powerful vocals which pulsate from _SotA_. Pyrexia belong to the school of simple but crushingly heavy death metal, and they certainly play their chosen style well. Some will probably think that Pyrexia are trying to sound like Korn, but this would be like believing Testament are trying to sound like Machine Head: death metal played simple detuned riffs first. Obituary made a living out of it. _SotA_ does not conform to the misconcieved stereotype about death metal lyrics (namely, that they are all "stupid"). This record is intelligently anti-racist, and some tracks are directed specifically against Reverend Louis Farrakahn, a racist in Pyrexia's, and my, opinion. A drawback of _SotA_ is that it is dangerously short even for a death metal album. At a running time of 23:44, this is more like an EP than a full length abum, but it's definitely worth your time and money if great music, and not length, is your main concern.

(article published 1/1/1998)