Elements of Corrosion

The conclusion of a rather unfortunate trilogy of the brutalists from Oppressor. Well, this American quartet, despite their predispositions to rise quite high with their original approach to death metal, had to deal with average interest and poor promotion after the release of "Agony". Similarly to the times of "Solstice Of Oppression", they had to suck it up and continue doing their own business - after all, "Agony" had its moments, regardless of exaggerated attempts to smuggle in groove metal influences. However, the next move (and as it will soon turn out, the last for many years) from these Americans did not have to be awaited with any impatience (sic!). Their third longplay, "Elements Of Corrosion", was released in the same tone as its predecessor - after only two years of releasing break.

It's also interesting that after the third album, you don't feel the earlier subordination towards simpler and catchier, groove metal climates so intrusively, and instead, from the very first moments, you can feel that the band on "Elements Of Corrosion" has once again caught the joy of...brutal death metal around like crazy! Maybe it's a slight generalization, but yes, Oppressor has clearly thickened the tempos on the third album, crammed in more technical ways and it's hard not to get the impression that they put the most effort into these the most intense fragments. This is quite an asset, because you can hear references to the broad inventiveness and brutality of the debut, and at the same time, despite all this accumulation, they haven't forgotten about catchiness, expressiveness and the construction of motifs in such a way that they can get under your skin. Such tracks as "Corrosion", "Upon The Uncreation", "Kingdom Of The Dead", "In Malice I Breathe" (this one additionally brings to mind Morbid Angel from the "Domination" period) or "Through Their Eyes" combine what is so recognizable and desirable in Oppressor, and at the same time do not use the same accents, patterns or contrasts in the well-known way. "Elements..." simply proves that without reinventing yourself, but with the right commitment, you can naturally crush with very twisted, brutal and addictive songs, causing a desire for further listening.

As colorful as on "Solstice Of Oppression" as a whole on "Elements Of Corrosion", unfortunately, it is not. In terms of flaws, Tim King's too ordinary and legible growls, which do not quite fit to the generally crazy playing, are still bothersome. Next, elements (?) embedded in the groove metal style do not do anything here at all (a lot less than before, but still too much), the outro with the use of piano is also average (unnecessary instrumental), but the most disappointing thing is the production. Okay, while the drums and vocals are still good, the guitars are much worse. First of all, their flat, sometimes buzzing thrash metal sound lets them down, because of which, during the initial contact with intensive parts, there is a feeling of listening to some impoverished Origin clone (by the way...before the Origin became more famous) rather than Oppressor. Ironically, you can also get used to this flaw on "Elements...", but was it really that hard for them to try to sound like "Agony" in such a situation?

Overall, "Elements Of Corrosion" is a very solid release, on which Oppressor showed themselves for the third time as an original band and specifically twisted within the death metal style, and the only thing these guys were missing here was a sensible production. Because "Elements..." brilliantly combines the approaches of "Solstice Of Oppression" and "Agony" - being both brutal and sophisticated, as well as catchy and sensibly breath-taking. In connection with the above, it's a pity that the Americans did not improve this subject further, disbanding their activity only a year later.

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

Oppressor was a third-string death metal band that attained very (very, very) mild popularity in the mid-'90s before dissolving to the disappointment of about a dozen people. They're not amazing but in some ways they're a rather interesting footnote in the mid-'90s death metal scene that was unfortunately rather forgotten during death metal's first collapse due to oversaturation. Their final album, 'Elements Of Corrosion', is a strong if somewhat plain release that was probably a good tombstone for this band; I don't really know where they would have gone from here. You can find it very cheap in numerous distros these days due to licensing from Crash Music (figures), so I'd recommend you pick it up if you're a big death metal fan.

I almost consider Oppressor to be a bit of a proto-Origin. They have very similar styles of riffing at times, with long streams of ultra-fast tremolo picking broken up by sudden, frantic sweeps and tech riffs. I get a similar feeling of simultaneous claustrophobia and spaciousness from both bands, as if they're trying to communicate very complex ideas in half the time they should be allowed to. Vocals are a simple, terse growl and drumming is blast oriented, but Oppressor definitely has a greater traditional death metal influence than Origin ever did, frequently backing down into slower, more groove-oriented sections that the chronologically later group has never really embraced. Oppressor could conceivably be labeled 'technical death metal', but that phrase generally makes me think of bands who are more demonstrative than this music, like Spawn Of Possession. The technicality isn't particularly flashy most of the time and reminds me more of Dying Fetus' fast sections on the band's early material, with Suffocation-influenced convoluted tremolo picking taking precedence over a more melodic guitar style.

The music is surprisingly catchy and quite musically coherent, though the song structures are rather predictable at times with riffs repeating just where you'd think they would. It's fairly aggressive and brutal without losing its sense of direction; it's more composed-sounding than a lot of death metal from the same era, which perhaps makes sense since Oppressor's history does extend back into the very early '90s. What really handicapped Oppressor's success during their time was a simple lack of a notable aesthetic or particularly unusual music- like many quality bands, they were damned to really only be listened to by those who would take the time to investigate a fairly random band. It's too bad; more death metal could afford to sound as practiced.

Anyway, as I said, copies of this album are laying in piles everywhere, so if you see one, why not pick it up. It's oldschool enough for Morbid Angel and Suffocation fans but dynamic and intense enough for more modern death metallers, so you're really getting, if not the best, a pretty good venn-diagram of both worlds on this album.