ALBUM REVIEW: Cut Up – Forensic Nightmares

WORDS: Tim Redman

Twenty four years is a long time for any band to have lasted. When VOMITORY finally called it quits in 2013 though, vocalist/guitarist Erik Rundqvist and drummer Tobias Gustafsson clearly didn’t feel they’d quite finished yet. Picking up ex-live VOMITORY member and COLDWORKER guitarist Anders Bertilsson and vocalist/guitarist Andreas Björnson, best known for FETUS STENCH, along the way, they set back out to continue exactly where they left off.

And continue they did. Fans of grinding death metal will have no complaints here. From the very first track CUT UP show their pedigree. The opener Enter Hell kicks off with solid riffs and the ever welcome blast beats you expect from a record like this while Burial Time is a shorter song with a brutal little solo and a change in the tempo to keep you guessing. Remember the Flesh is slower than the previous two tracks with a groovy riff and this gives the vocals a real chance to shine. A Butchery Improved continues this exhibition of skill with a crushing breakdown sure to be a solid feature of any live shows to come. Brain Cell Holocaust and Forensic Nightmare are a more traditional take on the same formula, with chugging riffs and no let-up in the pace, this record is taking no prisoners.

Camouflesh continues this traditional sound, slowing only to allow the riff to shine through once again, leaving you in no doubt as to the experience and skill of the guitarists. In arguably the most well-crafted track of the album Order of the Chainsaw has everything you could ever want from a death metal song, with crushingly heavy riffs, vile changes in tempo and chorus that is roared out by both vocalists, the song perfectly sums up everything CUT UP are showing they can do, even going as far as to include the almost obligatory horror movie chainsaw sounds.

Stab and Stab Again is another shorter song and wastes none of its time with anything but rapid blasting drumming and riffs to match. Bunker Z16 continues this, letting up only for the bass to make a brief appearance.  The album closes with Dead and Impaled another of the more grinding tracks on offer here and an odd one to end on, leaving you feeling like they’ve not quite finished and there should be more to come.

The production on this record is crushingly heavy, the lyrics deal with death and horror and the artwork is a colourful gory mess. The eleven tracks on offer here are all your traditional death metal offerings, no pomp or ceremony. CUT UP haven’t reinvented the wheel on Forensic Nightmare, instead sticking to what they know. Sometimes that’s exactly the right thing to do. This is one of those times.

Rating: 8/10

Forensic Nightmares is set for release on June 30th via Metal Blade Records