Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Lord Gore – Resickened – 2004 – Razorback Records

Track Listing 1. Intro 2. Gastric Gore-Met 3. Brainfucker 4. Liquid Lunch 5. Trash-Hole 6. Resickened 7. N.C.T.B. 8. Human Bot-Fly 9. Chitin 10. Kicked to Death 11. Son of Forgotten Flesh 12. Megacephallus 13. Trioxin

Hailing from the great state of Oregon, Lord Gore adds fuel to the fire of the fastly-rising "gore-thrash" scene with their latest release, Resickened. The band is a force to be reckoned with, combining the musical styles of 80's thrash, grind, and death metal with modern goregrind vocals. Although several bands fitting this description have surfaced over the past few years, Lord Gore now seems to have set themselves apart from the rest. With the addition of the infamous Maniac Neil (Frightmare/Maniac Killer) to handle guitar duties, the band has finally perfected their sound, and have created a flawless masterpiece of gore.

Resickened starts exactly as you'd expect a goregrind album to start, with a movie sample. But instead of a clip of a climactic murder scene in a slasher film, Lord Gore uses a more subtle clip with a woman's monologue of her romantic escapades with the dead. And for the most part, Lord Gore stays away from the goregrind sample cliches (minus the one obligatory porno sample), and chooses to just use unsettling samples, even if they're medical dialogues with pitchshifter effects on them. The vocals, on the other hand, are anything but subtle. Utilizing an array of vocal styles, Lord Gore rather impressively mixes them to create full-blown vocal chaos. Songs such as "Gastric Gore-Met" and "N.C.T.B." use vocals ranging from raw black metal shrieks, guttural death growls, and sickening pig snorts. All these sound hideous apart (without the aid of vocal processors), and when used together, create a vile treat not to be missed.

But the thing that makes Lord Gore so great is the music. Resickened's up-tempo thrash songs definitely keep the listener interested, but the band does know how to throw in some nice tempo changes, with some cool groove parts mixed in throughout the album. And even though I've never been a fan of guitar solos, I must admit that the ones on Resickened add a very nice, yet very dark touch to the songs. An instant classic is "Megacephallus", with some old-school in-your-face metal riffs reminiscent of Pantera, but with an brutal breakdown towards the end.

All in all, this is an amazing album. The fast-paced songs make the album run really smoothly and not once does it get boring. The production is also flawless, with a perfect mix of music and vocals. This album is perfect for any fan of goregrind, death metal, or just killer old school thrash.

--AFS