Though the barrier of moral pretense that’s raised in the minds of those who live in fear of this world can be seen as the work of social or religious conditioning, it isn’t necessarily intrinsic to systems of thought that wish to superimpose theories of order upon nature. Rather, the impulse is an artifice of the ego, in assuring it’s own physical safety and metaphysical sanctity, whether the origin of this is ascribed to a divinity or otherwise and then marketed to the masses. This monochromatic rendering of a world half engulfed by the shadow of such a barrier disregards the interdependent balance of elements, the opposite and equal value of death to that of life, and begins to symbolise a holy war against the unknown, just as the actual structure has represented conflicts throughout human history, from Hadrian’s Wall to the West Bank. Maybe Demoltion Hammer one year later recorded the soundtrack to the destruction of these architectural demarcators but Ripping Corpse pinpointed the mental plane with one of the apex recordings of both these tri-state bands’ style of corpse-shredding Speed/Death Metal.
‘Dreaming with the Dead’ doesn’t so much harmoniously reconcile life’s opposite extremes, though, as it reveals their arbitrary placement on the spectrum of phenomenon and deconstructs such division with the characteristic absurdism of Death Metal and Lovecraftian inhuman consciousness. The thematic outline of the album is even marked by a transition from the pulp ‘escapism’ of subconscious terrors on one hand to social commentary on the other, as though returning from the Abyss to expose the hypocrisy of so-called civilised men who indulge in normalised forms of depravity while pouring scorn over uncivilised ‘savagery’. The musical elements that Ripping Corpse fuse on the album illustrates this idea further, overlaying the quasi-neoclassical shredding posibilities opened up by European Speed Metal bands such as the socially conscious Destruction with perverse melodies and sequences of increasingly fractured riffing typical of Death Metal at the time.
Although the adverse effect of retaining such past influences would be that some later songs still structure themselves around anthemic choruses – a burden that most of Ripping Corpse’s contemporaries had already evolved far beyond – the band manages to employ enough compexity in their compositions to keep up with the demands of their vision. The sound of the guitars may be construed as being weak or mixed poorly, but this lighter texture lends itself well to the progression of riffs from measured punctuations of rhythm to insane variations by way of fucked up artificial harmonics and blastbeaten tremolo sequences. Tempo blurs the lines of what is considered primitive, though the act may be embellished with the jewels of modern society or justified in the name of some ideology. As layers of humanity are removed from the conscious mind, lead guitars erratically and uncontrollably rip through passages and bring a microcosmic level of culmination within a song, like the fleeting screams of demons being exorcised from a long tortured soul.
There is some continuity to be heard in the first album of Erik Rutan’s much later Hate Eternal, which is a far more sizeable contribution than his involvement in Morbid Angel, however, Ripping Corpse clearly struck an evolutionary dead-end with ‘Dreaming with the Dead’. Yet for all it’s antiquated aspects, the focus and engineering of the music manages to highlight the illusions which obstruct mankind from understanding the world around him because he chose to no longer belong in such a world.
Filed under: Death Metal Album of the Week — Tags: Death Metal, Horror, Speed Metal, Speed/Death — ObscuraHessian @ June 13, 2011 04:59 — Comments (3)
In 1998 death metal was from the context of it’s history, a more or less totally stagnant genre that was devoid of fresh approaches. Anyone familiar with the genre also would be probably aware of the fact that Chicago’s Master are one of it’s most important and hard working pioneers, who here released an overlooked album that explored the primitive origins of heavy metal, fusing it with their barbaric, anthemic and punk influenced heavy metal. It is a very rewarding listen, and seeks to test the advanced listener’s perceptions of what could be considered ‘crossover’.
The production values of this record fit perfectly with what many sludge and ‘stoner’ bands would aspire to, with both guitars and bass having quite low-end, non-trebly acoustics, yet seperated well enough in the still rough mix to make them both sound discernable. 
Paul Speckmann’s vocals are the thuggish grunt they always have been, lyrically a pastiche of analytical, but non-preachy insights of the decadence and corruption that embody the stereotypes of modern American society. Drumming is aggressive and precise, faithful to early styles in a mid to fast pace though never utilising blastbeats, sounding rather boxy and with little regard for compression, aiding the thick sound of the other instruments and giving the music endless streams of momentum.
The music of this album was a very brave move by Master. Strong influences of the music of Black Sabbath and Cream can be heard, with plenty of scales and motifs that recall and revitalise the spirit of the former’s ‘Master Of Reality’ album. Not only this, the age, maturity and dedication clearly shines through in this work. Whilst the obvious 70’s hard rock and proto-metal influences are on a parallel with bands who have diluted the sounds for more commercialised audiences, Master steer it towards a direction that is honourable and refreshing, giving new templates to a genre that was, at that particular time, exhausted of ideas and creativity.
Filed under: Death Metal Album of the Week — Tags: Death Metal, Speed/Death, Thrash — Pearson @ October 19, 2009 12:55 — Comments (1)
This well-respected album from the early nineties is a lethal injection of pure destruction enough to satisfy anybody’s lust for laying waste to humans and their buildings. Preferably while they are still inside them so the bricks and mortar can rain down on their skulls and shatter all bones, leaving human remains indistinguishable from the rubble. I doubt this experience varies much for each listener as this album has been engineered precisely as a soundtrack of de-construction. Heavily shredded riffs reminiscent of ‘Beneath the Remains’-era Sepultura are tightly packed into a Death Metal container more appropriate for the time. This is obviously characterised by the frantic, relentless tempo of the music. More important however, is the interplay of drums and vocals as synchronous rhythmic overlay to the jackhammer guitarwork. The results are precise blows punctuated by piercing, animalistic vocals. Each riff is like something maleable or just fucking ugly for the battering drums to lay waste to like an instinctive response to something undesirable. This mechanistic attack then gives way to climaxes of lead guitar or more prolonged and guttural growls. Ecstatic brutality. It is unashamedly extremely one-dimensional music, but does not lack purpose nor the energy to violently make its point as an update of the Speed/Death sound.
Interestingly, ‘Epidemic of Violence’ is the second album to use ‘Lovecraft’s Nightmare’ by Michael Whelan as cover art. I’ll use this opportunity to present it, knowing you’ll recognise who were first.
