Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Balatonizer - Occlused in Ottusity - 2005 - This Dark Reign/Devil Doll Records

Track Listing1. Intro 2. Muscular Prevarication 3. Corporal Usurpation 4. Ciccio Tagliavia 5. Brutal Devastation 6. Caimme 7. Anfame 8. C.E.P. 9. Petra Lavica Etnea 10. Abominations of Triviality 11. Diabolos 12. Occlubinated Eyes Convergence 13. Scacciatiesta 14. Pulverization after Intimidation 15. Inebetit 16. Eaten 17. Cerebral Regression 18. Guttural Satisfaction 19. Macabrotic Poetry 20. Microscopic Brain 21. From the Obsolation to the Obeteration 22. Putrification of the Mind 23. A'cinta No! 24. Sbigottit 25. Primitivity 46 26. Reborn in Ignorance 27. Se So Sa 28. Sucaman 29. Ottenebrated Perseveration Through Mental Disorder 30. Occlused in Ottusity 31. Anal by Anal 32. Tristeza

Italian Death/Grind outfit Balatonizer has put together a 25-minute, 32-song assault on a cd launched it under the name of OCCLUSED IN OTTUSITY.

There has been nothing to get excited about in Grind over the past couple of years and unfortunately this does nothing to ‘raise the bar’. The recording quality is very crappy; leading to an even more sludged up lyric then what you usually already get on a poor Grind album.

What you get at here is a mixed up muddle of death vocals, thick guitar riffs and hideous layering. Basslines are drowned by the vocal growl, which isn’t worth listening to anyway because of the childish lyric that seems to be plaguing this genre presently.

The booklet inside contains some amusing cartoons depicting the band maiming random pedestrians, but other then the half second laugh it gives my inner child it can’t hide the fact this album is horrible.

Young bands like this need to at least go out to ‘mimic’ the likes of Napalm Death and Carcass before trying too hard to be original straight off the bat. For such a short album it became very tedious very quickly.

Intransigent fans of the genre will look at this as a ‘coming of age’ piece, but more mainstream listeners of the genre will leave well enough alone.

I hope that these guys improve and make me look like a Kansas bog lemming but I seriously doubt it.



--Neekoy 12.22.05