Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 12:56 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Grindcore/Death Metal
Country: Sweden
Label:-
Year: 2021
Sweden has the advantage of having so many great bands that carry a glorious history on their backs even if many of them stayed on the underground. General Surgery is one of these heroes of extreme sound that is hailing from the Scandinavian country. The band was established back in 1988 and featured members from Dismember and cult (progressive) death metal act Afflicted (now only remaining founder is the guitarist Joacim Carlsson). As their moniker and song titles betrays them, their themes were Carcass like gore with a sense of raping the Hippocratic Oath or the medicine school of Bologna practicing violently or better saying abusing on corpses in the air… their legendary debut EP (Necrology from 1991) has a place to the heart of all sub genre’s fans that appreciate top notch grind.
This year’s return is a kind of a way to celebrate their 30th anniversary since their first release, beside the fact that all these 3 decades the band spend it on releasing occasional splits, EP’s and only 2 full length albums (2006’s Left Hand Pathology and 2009’s Corpus In Extremis: Analysing Necrocriticism) with Lay Down and Be Counted following on from 2012’s An Ever Flying Limb EP (as you already understood there’s a Dismember reference there).
While no one expected any change in their sound on the other hand no one actually assumed that this new effort would be awesome! The early 90’s feeling is present with a small addition of melody here and there just to keep the temperature high. The gross, the blood and the medical terms are still here given with extra doses of sickness. The guitars are razor-sharp with buzzsaw riffs destroying everything in their way while there’s a thrashing vibe blended with death/goregrind elements in the veins of Carcass, Heartwork-era (and Impetigore) and Swedish death metal melodies. While the song writing is damn catchy, the album is enjoyable as fuck.
Highlights: “Sentenced to the Slab/Organ Failure”, “Cut Throat Speed”, “Liquefactive Decay of Remnant Lung Tissue” and “Effusive Opulent Decampment / Lay Down And Be Counted”
At present, Lay Down And Be Counted is a digital-only release, with a physical follow-up to come, hopefully.
Line-up:
Joacim Carlsson / Guitars
Andreas Eriksson / Bass, Backing Vocals
Adde Mitroulis / Drums, Backing Vocals
Erik Sahlström / Vocals
Urban Skytt / Guitars
