Onset of Putrefaction

     Necrophagist is the offering of Muhammed Suçmez, a German engineer of Turkish descent with a composer’s mind and an affinity for extreme metal. This guy is like the King Midas of technical death metal and grindcore; he writes the music and performs nearly everything on this album, and it’s all musical gold. Onset of Putrefaction marks Muhammed’s first foray onto the unsuspecting European public and it is a well-planned onslaught.

     Be forewarned, the songs are labyrinthine to the point where entire portions may hardly make sense the first listen, such is the intensity, speed, and intricate complexity. Muhammed opens each song as only a veteran tactician of metal knows how. The opening bass line of Extreme Unction sounds like the menacing bray of an evil, ethereal stallion from mythological lore. Even the fullness of the drum solo opening in Fermented Offal Discharge makes me forgive Necrophagist’s usage of a drum machine for this album.

     Extraordinary writing capabilities aside, Muhammed has a playing style that is all his own, richly steeped in a classical music background. His sweeps and squeals are first class. The disharmonies in Culinary Hyperversity pull the ear in opposite directions. Fermented Offal Discharge executes one of the most unforgettable guitar solos of all time at the exact apex of the song. Every song is so polished and trimmed, no note is excess. The album is sleek, refined, and all about timing, timing, timing. Onset of Putrefaction will please all who seek a highly kinetic rush.