Review Summary: Carcass worship done left
If you are a fan of early Carcass and their brand of gory metal, especifically on the album Reek Of Putrefaction, then you are going to love this. This album from Swedish goregrinders General Surgery is what Reek Of Putrefaction would have sounded like if the production wasn't completely sh*t.
The genre of grindcore, or simply called grind, finds its creation in the year 1987 by British crust/anarcho punks Napalm Death, when they released their first album, Scum. Napalm Death's album was mostly about capitalism, world hunger, greed, just very political in general. The punk influence was very strong. Originally, grindcore was the most extreme form of punk. Even today there is a lot of variety in grindcore. Sometimes the focus is more on punk and sometimes more on metal. In 1989 a different strain of grind was created, slower with lyrics usually focussed on gory subjects. Repulsion and Carcass released their first (and in Repulsion's case only) albums. Goregrind saw the light of day. Pitch-shifted vocals is something that Carcass introduced and this aspect of the music is still used to this day. Gurgling lyrics about botched surgeries, gore, torture and other vile themes became a hallmark characteristic of the genre.
Now back to the album. Left Hand Pathology is obviously a pun on the infamous Left Hand Path from fellow Swedish extreme metal band Entombed. General Surgery was created in 1988 and they released an EP "Necrology" before disbanding for approximately 12 years. In 2006, 15 years after their debut, they released their first full-length album. And what an album it was. This is Carcass worship done left. This is straight up, no-nonsense gory grind that riffs for days. Sure, most of the tracks kind of sound the same, but the album succeeds in keeping things interesting anyway.
