HAEMORRHAGE
“WE ARE THE GORE”
Album Review By Lloyd Parkinson
8/10
As a subgenre/subculture of the extreme heavy metal scene, Goregrind is typically recognized by its musical fusion of Death Metal, Punk and traditional Grindcore. You could easily pinpoint the creation of this genre back in the 1980s when pioneering bands such as Carcass, General Surgery and Exhumed were defining their musical characteristics and pursuing their successful careers for years thereafter. Goregrind is also recognized by its distinctive themes of gore, surgery, violence and human lobotomy. Haemorrhage have been slaughtering the underground Goregrind scene for 25 years and have churned out seven albums since forming in 1991. Like all bands, it took Haemorrhage years to define their take on Goregrind and in 2006 their album “Apology For Pathology” was scouted by Relapse Records.
Haemorrhage’s latest offering entitled “We Are The Gore” represents them as the contemporary force of modern Goregrind. Recorded in Madrid at Mpire studio by Javi Ustara and mastered by Brad Boatright, this album incorporates 14 tracks of pure absurdity and filled with gore, barbarity and ferocity. As previously mentioned, you can obviously compare Haemorrhage to Carcass and General Surgery but that is completely unavoidable when taking into consideration the nature of the genre and subcultural elements of the underground scene. Nevertheless, there are a myriad of other elements that you hear when listening to the band’s seventh offering. “We Are The Gore” features many guest appearances by former and current members of Carcass, Dead Infection, Ghoul and Impaled. The most obvious of all is that this album represents everything that you would expect for Haemorrhage to produce. There’s a blend of vicious blast beats, riffs and a lot of Punk influences incorporated throughout the album, which is definitely the case when it comes to first track “Nauseating Employments”. This opening track sets off the furious and brutal 35-minute onslaught and it’s actually quite a catchy track at the same time. It reminds me of a few past tracks that the band has churned out on previous albums and opens with a bludgeoning introduction.
The third and self-titled track “We Are The Gore” may not be the most technically creative track on this album but is definitely one of my favourites. I’m personally a massive fan of Grindcore and many of its sub-genres including Pornogrind because of its musical traits that separate it from every other genre in the history of music. The most obvious trait that can be related to Goregrind and Haemorrhage is the extremely graphic and offensive subject matter and just like all Grindcore sub-genres the songs typically tend to be very short and rarely last over 3 minutes. Goregrind and Pornogrind can often be confused due to the overlapping musical styles that both genres incorporate into the stylistic characteristics. And what I love about the self-titled track is that it reminds me of just this and how Haemorrhage can shift between the two genres whilst retaining their traditional sound that their dedicated fans have come to love and enjoy over the years. The seventh track “Medical Maniacs” also incorporates Pornogrind stylistics whilst mixing it up with a blend of Thrash Metal at the same time. This track really does represent exactly what Haemorrhage are capable of in terms of style and musical creativity. If I were to introduce someone who is unfamiliar with Haemorrhage I would tell them to listen to this track.
The twelfth track entitled “Prosector’s Revenge” is the biggest stand out track on this album and one of my personal favourites. What I like about this track is that is proves that when Haemorrhage introduce different genres with their traditional sound it really does create a hybrid of creative musical profanity. This track presents a blend of Goregrind, Thrash, Punk and Hardcore and is a brilliantly crafted track that keeps the album’s momentum goings towards the closure of the album.
“We Are The Gore” is without a doubt my favourite album of the bands career so far. It outpaces any of their previous music in terms of quality and it’s the best production that they have had of any other album. This offering is a lot of fun to listen to and is aesthetically on point with the stylistic and musical trait of traditional Goregrind. This album is a perfect example of contemporary Goregrind and is cranially stimulating from beginning to termination.
BAND LINE UP
Lugubrious – Maligna Vox
Ana – Lead Guitar / Vocals
Lusima – Guitar / Vocals
Ramon – Bass / Vocals
Erik Raya – Drums
TRACKLIST
Nauseating Employments
Gore Gourmet
We Are The Gore
Transporting Cadavers
Bathed In Bile
The Cremator’s Song
Medical Maniacs
Forensick Squad
Gynecrologist
Miss Phlebotomy
C.S.C. (Crime Scene Cleaners)
Prosector’s Revenge
Organ Trader
Intravenous Molestation Of The Obstructionist Arteries (O-Pus Vii)
https://haemorrhage.bandcamp.com/
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