Korpse – Insufferable Violence (Unique Leader)
Tuesday, 16th February 2021
The problem when it comes to many slam or brutal death metal bands is that it just becomes one-note and boring the long it goes on. There’s a visceral feeling to it all, but many in the genre operate solely on trying to be the most brutal and ignore the rest of the playing field. Korpse, on the other hand, are operating on all cylinders with their third full-length, Insufferable Violence.
You can dig into the usual things about slam and brutal death metal from Korpse’s sound, but they keep the album from feeling repetitive or boring as you go through out. A tougher job than imaginable due to how pulverizing the music is that is being tossed at you, but the charm in Korpse is how they make such utter devastation so fun to listen to. There’s an inspired feeling to the band’s mid-tempo grooves and crushing breakdowns, the area that bands like this can operate in to help distinguish themselves (as opposed to the frenetic high speed blurs and tin can drumming), and this is where Korpse works their magic. The speedy parts are just plain angry (see “Callousness”), but when they take the tempos and slow them down, they manage to make it sound even more angry. Said track’s breakdown slows to a crawl but the riffs will put a smile on your face. When the track then accelerates, with a pinch of tech influence, it has a nice springboard effect. Lumbering chugs later in the track are murderous in their intent and you can’t help but get sunk into the energy they provide. While that’s one track, you can then see this sort of rhythm that the band gets into if you pick a track at random (outside of intro “PTSD”), and because of the odd level of hookiness present in these slower mid-tempo spots it helps to carry them forward with urgency and intensity intact.
Riffs so brutal that you can’t help but smile, Korpse dishes out a beating with Insufferable Violence. With a lasting power that will give more returns on this sort of material than you might expect, you can play it at destructive volumes repeatedly and just have a sadistically good time.
