Having often been recommended DISGORGE by many people who knew of my current boredom with modern Death Metal I must say that I am more than a little disappointed. Surely there are lots of great riffs, an abundance of brutality and lots of other goodies for the Death Metal fanatic, yet there still lacks a certain something that will rekindle my belief in this dying horse.

There are releases that will defy time and remain fresh, exciting and powerful forever. I am of course speaking of the likes of DEICIDE's self-titled effort, MORBID ANGEL's "Alters Of Madness" or even SUFFOCATION's "Human Waste" and while DISGORGE have indeed made a truly excellent attempt with "Necrholocaust" it quite simply isn't in the same league as those just mentioned.

However if we take DISGORGE's effort and remove it from all pre-conceived ideas and take it simply at face value I can tell you for sure that if brutal Death/Grind is your thing then this will be a fine, border lining essential addition to any collection that contains more than a mere handful of modern Death Metal.

The music on offer ranges from sheer destructive hyperspeed Death Metal, to excellent slow and mid paced sections which offer a hint of diversity and some fantastic heavy riffing. Influence wise I can hear the odd hint of old CANNIBAL CORPSE and some MORBID ANGEL (although much more brutal) and a little bit extra of their own making it seems. The production captures everything reasonably but by no means perfectly despite all instruments being well composted and executed and leaves the album sounding powerful enough but not groundbreaking.

Bearing in mind that the band aren't going to win any prizes for originality I'm sure that you can make up your own mind whether this particular form of extreme metal still has anything to offer. If your answer is in the affirmative then this release is perfect for you as it has brutality and quality in abundance. For myself I believe that this album will get the odd spin from time to time but my hopes for Death Metal still rest with the new DEICIDE album. Hopefully it will be good enough to inspire more interest from this reviewer. (Online February 28, 2004)