Putrid Offal – Obliterated Life (Review)

This is the third album from French deathgrinders Putrid Offal.

Wow, has it really been ten years since 2015’s Mature Necropsy? That’s depressing. Less depressing is that we have a new Putrid Offal album to ease the terrible passage of time. With 35 minutes of new material, Obliterated Life is a wrecking ball of deathgrind nastiness.

Putrid Offal know how to unleash carnage. Reeking of choice bloody cuts from the likes of Aborted, Avulsed, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, and Napalm Death, Putrid Offal attack their grisly subject matter with gruesome abandon.

Most of the songs are short and brutal, (although three are 4+ minutes), and showcase the band’s surgical suturing together of gory death metal and ferocious grind. Formed around a core of aggression, tight delivery, and passionate execution, each track easily hits the spot with destructive force. The riffs smash hard, and the drums are relentless.

Some songs lean into the band’s death metal side more than others, whereas others are pure grinding heaviness. Putrid Offal mix and match, choosing the best entrail-covered weapon for the job. At one end of the extreme we have songs like Darkness Awaits and The Black Veil, which sound like a mix of Napalm Death, (death metal and experimental varieties, respectively), and Bolt Thrower, and on the other we have songs like the punishing Agony Prevails and Ribcage Blues, which are both brief bursts of devastation. In this way Obliterated Life has more variety than you might expect, within its stylistic framework.

Obliterated Life is a worthy record to add to the Putrid Offal legacy. It’s an enjoyable, fun album, full of adrenaline-charged blood-soaked energy and brutal slaughter. It’s good stuff, so make sure you eat your fill.

Very highly recommended.