If Gruesome Stuff Relish’s Horror Rises From The Tomb seems familiar to you, it’s probably because this album was only just released in March on Razorback Records. The first pressing still hasn’t sold out and yet here we have a re-issue of the release already, just six short months later. You’re probably asking yourself “Why?” Long story short, it was a mutual agreement between Razorback Records, No Escape Records and Gruesome Stuff Relish. There’s no bad blood. Razorback Records is still alive and well and releasing new material, so hopefully that puts peoples minds at ease.

I’ve already reviewed the Razorback version of Horror Rises From The Tomb just a few short weeks ago. Rather than write an entirely new review, here’s an excerpt from my original review;

Gruesome Stuff Relish’s first full length offering in six years is a slight departure from 2002’s Teenage Giallo Grind. The band have pulled back on the early Carcass worship a great deal on this effort and have recorded an album that has a stronger Impetigo meets Repulsion and Autopsy in an axe wielding battle sound to it. The riffs have that meaty early 90s death metal vibe to them with plenty of groove to get your foot tapping and thrashy elements to get your head banging.

Like their earlier work, Gruesome Stuff Relish employ a tri-vocal assault. Noel Kemper employs the same raspy vocal styling he did on his project Altar Of Giallo’s recent releases, while drummer Pablo Deodato grunts and Santiago Argento growls. Often all three grunt, growl and rasp in unison, which makes the songs that much more gory.

The production on this effort is perfect for the band’s style. The guitars are down tuned with a thick meaty bass, powerful drum tone and a sharp sound that makes every rasp, grunt and growl stand out. Horror Rises From The Tomb also contains killer artwork by Jeff Zornow, the same guy responsible for designing the new Teufel’s Tomb logo as well as the t-shirt design. The artwork is fucking cool and makes me envy his skill.

By this time, you’re probably saying to yourself “Okay, this sounds cool, but what makes this any different that the Razorback release?” Good question. A few months ago Gruesome Stuff Relish returned to the studio to record two brand new tracks for the re-release; "True Gore" and "Invasion Of The Flesh Hunters". Both tracks have the same sound and feel as the remainder of the album and are both fucking killer tracks.

My only complaint is that both releases are identical other than the additional tracks. There’s no new artwork, no new tray card, if you held the two CDs side by side the only way you’d be able to tell there was anything different about them is by looking at the back. One has “bonus tracks” listed near the bottom with the bar code on the right side, whereas the other doesn’t have the “bonus tracks” and the bar code is on the left side. They should have at least put forth enough effort to change the color of the logo and album title on the cover, just to give a strong visual indication that, yes, this release is different than the original.

If you don’t already own Horror Rises From The Tomb I’d recommend picking up the No Escape Records re-release simply for the two bonus tracks. If you have the Razorback Records version, there’s really no reason to shell out another $10-12 to pick up the No Escape Records version unless you’re a completest freak. Either way, I highly recommend Horror Rises From The Tomb to all fans of Razorback Records-style goregrind. Good stuff!

Written By: Teufel