PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Lending additional momentum to Swedish stalwart death metal band Hypocrisy‘s career in 2013, label Nuclear Blast decided to re-release the band’s seminal 1992 debut Penetralia, and 1993 sophomore effort, Osculum Obscenum. These albums are packaged in a 2CD deluxe box, featuring additional live recordings as bonus material. 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of Osculum Obscenum‘s release (on the same label), and the deluxe 2CD box set is a celebration of that fact.
The release is typical brutal death metal: downtuned, evil, mid-tempo to blastbeat fast, no bells & whistles. In 1992 and 1993, this was part of the second wave of death metal (the first having come from bands as diverse as Deicide, Death, or fellow Swedes Nihilist and Dismember). Listeners who pick this up for the first time will be able to hear a bit of where the ‘brutal death metal’ genre got it’s beginnings; what was unusual at the time, was that this ‘American influenced’ sound came from a Swedish band, not American. Of the two albums on this release, Osculum Obscenum is more listenable then the debut, with a fuller, thicker production, and also rendered in true stereo. This is not a high-mark ‘technical’ set of songs – the musicians are adept enough to have their point heard, without any excess.
One of the live bonus tunes (“God Is A Lie”) sounds like a typical grind band practice or a decent garage demo: the sound ends up basically ‘bass drum and choppy abrasion’ that wears quickly on the ears. It isn’t especially ‘together’, but it is very much ‘brutal death metal’. If you’re really in to that sound, the first set of tunes on this disc will be pure aural pleasure. Penetralia would benefit from even a little bass guitar. Brutal death metal is supposed to evoke fear, disruption, and violent demise. This sounds so compressed (reminding listeners that the term “typewriter drums” came from somewhere) that the impact has been removed, leaving a fairly shallow re-rehash of the material. The band’s got a good thing going with the clean electric segue to “Penetralia”, and then when the full band kicks in, it loses all of it’s impact, favoring sheer speed and an abrasive texture over testicular fortitude.
From a historical or historian’s perspective, what is the motivation behind this release? Is it purely recommercialization of the material? A quick glance through a major online retailer’s catalog shows these albums are not obscure enough to be out of print in their original editions. Both have already been re-released once, so technically, this is a re-re-release. Peter Tagtren, the creator of this material, thankfully is still very much alive and active, having released End Of Disclosure, a batch of brand new Hypocrisy studio tunes, earlier in 2013.
From a Dark Funeral fan’s perspective, this is an interesting backtrack to Magus Caligula‘s vocal debut. Vocals are one of the more intelligible parts of the recording, and he’s definitely spearheaded the dual vocal (brutal growls and higher-pitched tortured banshee screams) style that would be so prominent as cornerstones of the genre’s later 1990’s recordings.
Of cultural note is that Sweden in general is more secular and more tolerant of ‘fringe religion’ then the land of the free, the USA, tends to be. Lyrics like “die for me in hell” and “I think Jesus, God is a lie” (translations from Penetralia) aren’t necessarily something that’s entirely controversial in Scandinavia, but in America it lashes out at a pervasive, ingrained, and mainstream culture. Maybe they don’t bat an eyelash over there, but here, it made, and makes, waves. Hypocrisy came a little late to the party and missed most of the PMRC backlash; they probably got their “explicit lyrics” sticker and thought nothing of it. At any rate, on most extreme metal, the sticker is irrelevant: not even the native speaker who translated Penetralia‘s lyrics for darklyrics could render all of the words. “You can’t understand a word he’s saying” is a typical death metal vocal lament heard from fans. As forefathers of the genre, Hypocrisy did not waver.
Bottom line: If you’re unable to locate the original recordings, you’re not a vinyl collector, and/or you haven’t looked for live footage, these Hypocrisy re-re releases are good to check out from a historical perspective. The albums are a nice listen through memory lane. Listen to the albums, keeping in mind that they feature some of the root or cornerstone ideas of the entire genre. It’s barebones, brutal death metal in all senses. The overall recording sound quality is acceptable, but the mix balance definitely takes the listener back in time. Fans of hyperspeed blastbeat drumming, crazy atonal guitar ‘solo’ work, mix-forward well-delivered guttural vocals, and a hefty thrash-based rhythm section are going to adore this.
