Putrified Vaginal Infibulation

I am surpised that there is only one band here on the archives that decided to name itself "Masturbation". I guess it's not an especially brutal word, but still. "Masturbation". It has a nice ring to it. And with a name like that, you know what to expect. Brutal death metal. And that's what you get. It's straightforward, really. Less straightforward is the name of this album. "Putrified Vaginal Infibulation". I know what those first two words mean, even if the first is misspelled. But what about "Infibulation"? The act of inserting a fibula into something? No. It means "The surgical modification or mutilation of the genitals". So that's pretty brutal. A perfectly fitting album title.

Like a lot of bands in the genre, this album is short. Discounting the bonus tracks, there are 20 minutes worth of music on this thing. Normally this would be considered a negative, but not in this case. I actually find it to be a little on the long side.

That's because of the one major flaw on this album. The snare drum. Yeah, it might seem weird to point out a minor thing like that as an album's biggest flaw, but you haven't heard this damn thing. It sounds like an oil barrel being banged on with a pipe in an echo chamber, and it completely drowns out all other aspects of the music. It makes no difference if blastbeats are being played or not, since the echo fills in any gaps. There are sporadic breaks that might last a few seconds at most, but other than that, the only reprieve is the occasional crappy sample.

If you manage to look past the omnipresent snare drum, you don't find much of anything underneath. The vocalist is okay, but he doesn't do anything notable. Just run-of-the-mill unintelligible grunting and burping. The guitars play mindless riffs that do nothing to stand out from each other. There are a few parts that might be considered slams, but there is no catchiness to them. Most of it is just endless droning that serves as the undercurrent of the album. There are no solos, but there are a few pinch harmonics. Those are almost as good, really.

Another thing this album lacks is songwriting. There is only blasting and the absence of blasting. The riffs and vocals don't change in between those sections. The entire effect of all this is very chaotic, almost industrial. It has a sort of appeal, just because of how unrelenting it is. After a while it stops sounding like music at all. The closest band I can think of, sound wise, is Enmity. That's the easiest way to describe what this album sounds like. Just take Enmity's trademark sound and add an annoying snare drum.

I can't recommend this, due to the snare drum, but I can't really blame the band. Since when is brutal death metal supposed to be good, anyway? Who cares if it doesn't have any catchiness? It's all about being as brutal as possible, and Masturbation certainly succeed on that front.