SOULGRIND
"La Matanza, El Himno Pagano" (1994)
Malodorous Mangled Innards
rating: 4 of 6
Well, well, well… Look what we have here! "La Matanza…" appears as the CD Jussi Heikkinen and co. made their debut with, and most probably it's the sickest work he managed to come up with so far. Starting with "Summoning", weird piece of no less weird chants mixed with no less weird… what? Well, what about "industrialized pagan black / grind"? I guess, this definition fits "La Matanza…" pretty fine. Those of you who're acquainted with what SOULGRIND is all about nowadays, definitely would be kinda astonished giving this CD a listen, since this one doesn't have anything in common with this folkish black metal, the path they've embarked on, with releasing "Whitsongs" and "Kalma". Sounding like a cross between ESOTERIC, THERGOTHON, ABRUPTUM, BLOOD and MORBID ANGEL, "La Matanza…" isn't the kind of recording one would fully comprehend at the first listen, and there're no guarantees that he / she would ever get into what the hell is this after the millionth one. Varying from slow, chant-alike passages and wicked choirs, to fast-paced death / grind supplemented with depravedly constructed musical canvas and deep growling, it's far too experimental - and I still can't really figure out if it's good or bad. Check out "Inner Chain Of Perversions" and "Virginity, A Sanctum Of The Red" and figure it out yourself. (Herr Stalhammar)