There is one of two things that can happen during the re-recording of old material. Either the recording is much more powerful than the original and fans and critics love it, or the recording is much weaker than the original and fans and critics trash it. Unfortunately for brutal death metal legends Sepsism, I believe the latter is the case for their Purulent Decomposition CD. The CD, containing re-recorded versions all five tracks from the unreleased Necrotic Flesh Rot CD/EP, two tracks each from their first two demo tapes as well as three brand new recordings; "Surgical Atrocity", "Uterocasket" and "Born Into Obliveon". The CD starts out promisingly with the powerful "Surgical Atrocity". The first thing you notice, however, is the change in vocal style. Fernando has dropped his trademark cupped-vocal assault and gone to a more early Kevin Sharp-esque style. The following five tracks are re-recordings, while "Shredded In Cannibalistic Violence" does keep up to pace with the original, the other tracks are, quite honestly, extremely unimpressive. "Uterocasket" is the second original track on this CD and is very tame and boring compared to "Surgical Atrocity". Of the remaining four re-recordings, only "Murdering At Random" shows any signs of life, and the final track is the final original tune; "Born Into Obliveon". In my opinion, that song should be blown into oblivion and not even exist, a horrible ending to the CD. Unfortunately for Sepsism, this CD can be compared to their earlier work, and their earlier work completely destroys Purulent Decomposition. While the guitaring and drumming has never been better, the vocals are far from as powerful as they once were and the mix is poor, many times the guitars are obscured by the drumming, sometimes to the point that it drowns out everything including the vocals. The guitars are high in the mix, as well as the bass giving the CD a very un-brutal sound. Death Metal fans new to the sounds of Sepsism may love this CD, but those who remember their earlier work will surely be disappointed. I know I was.

Written By: Teufel