Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Headquartered in Farmingville, New York, Razorback Records has toiled in the underground for nearly a decade, and the work that has gone into the label has paid dividends in recent years; Razorback has become nearly synonymous with horror-inspired Death Metal and Death/Doom and their releases have consistently set the standard for their given style. Fondlecorpse’s 2009 full-length album, Creaturegore, marks Razorback’s 50th release, and is the perfect choice to commemorate Razorback’s longevity and dedication to the world of extreme metal.

Despite a passing familiarity with Fondlecorpse’s earlier releases, (2007’s Blood and Popcorn, 2005’s compilation From Beyond the Crypt, and 2003’s Limbless) I had not actually heard them, and because of their name, I expected something in the vein of modern death/grind.

Expectations aside, the moment the music began on Creaturegore’s opening track, “The Invasion”, I was immediately struck by the fact that instead of the modern gore-grind that I had foolishly expected, what I heard from Fondlecorpse was very much old-school death metal in the vein of Death, Cannibal Corpse, and fellow wooden shoe-wearing countrymen Sinister. Although bands who play old-school or retro-style extreme metal are by no means rare, many of those who do tend to falter in either song-writing or execution, which inevitably leads to albums that sound unnatural or inorganic at best, and entirely contrived at worst. Fondlecorpse, on the other hand, plays 1990’s style death metal so fluidly and organically that Creaturegore could easily be mistaken for an album from 1997, rather than 2009.

The opening track on any album is often the most important as either a stylistic marker or a mood-setter which creates the atmosphere for everything that follows it. Creaturegore’s opening track, “The Invasion”, sets both the pace and tone for the rest of the album with high-speed blasting, outstanding riffing, and pure vocal intensity. Where “The Invasion” is pure blasting aggression, “Pillage, Burn, Kill”, the album’s second track, maintains the aggression and much of the speed of its predecessor, while incorporating more melodic elements that really begin to show off the song writing talents of Fondlecorpse.

After listening to Creaturegore more than a dozen times, the element that most strikes me is how well written and constructed these songs are and how memorable most of them are. The most immediately striking track, “Hideous”, could easily be mistaken for a Tomb of the Mutilated or The Bleeding- era Cannibal Corpse song with its inescapably catchy opening riff and genius vocal patterns. Although “Hideous” likely the most memorable song on Creaturegore, it’s by no means alone; “The Hermit”, “Goremarine”, and “Sluts and Bolts” stand side-by-side with “Hideous” with consistently memorable riffing and vocal work that is among the best of 2009.

The “more is more” impulse has always been a part of metal, and it likely will, leading to bands trying to be heavier, faster and more technical than anyone and everyone who has come before them. While there is nothing inherently wrong with bands obsessed with doing more, the impulse often leads to interesting musicianship accompanied by bland, unrecognizable songs. From an outside perspective, extreme metal may indeed look like an exercise in heavier, faster, and more technical, but at its core, metal is no different than any other style of music or art, where flash and surface beauty inevitably succumb to depth and substance. With Creaturegore, Fondlecorpse has chosen to eschew pushing technical boundaries in favor of crafting songs that are heavy, uncompromising, catchy, and ultimately memorable. As I continue to listen to Creaturegore, I’m unable to come to any conclusion other than that Creaturegore is already one of 2009’s best albums and an album that the underground will be listening to for years to come.

Review byLeif