THE COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS
"Olidous Operettas"
Relapse Records
2007

Eight slabs of pure, shameless Carcass worship. That's all, in fact you can stop reading here. If you didn't already know, The County Medical Examiners are proud to be Carcass clones, literally just taking Carcass riffs and tweaking them slightly to make new material. They've also nailed down the tones, the lead styles, the vocals, even the reverb on the drums.. everything but Bill Steer's kitchen sink. If you're an obsessive Carcass fan, you could make a nice game of listening to this album and calling out which songs and riffs they are dissecting and rearranging. The best thing about this album is that it's basically like getting another copy of Symphonies of Sickness, only this one is hiny and new, and you haven't heard it tens of thousand of times (technically). Actually, I suppose it belongs right in between Symphonies and Necroticism. Anyway, this is a short review because all that really needs to be said is that fans of older Carcass better pick this up immediately. I hope the former Carcass members find his downright flattering and well-done. While Bill Steer may never even give it the time of day, hopefully the rest of them will entertain it and chuckle. This is the closest you will get to stepping into a time machine and going back to the early 90s when this was fresh material. Excellent.. my favorite disc of 2007 so far, and this will be a hard one to beat.

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The County Medical Examiners - Olidous Operettas
Relapse

file under Death metal

Menno: It is said that the second record makes or breaks a band. The debut often leaves an impression which has to be exceeded by the follow-up. If this can't be done, the band is given the title of a oneday-fly. All this is complete bullshit concerning this CD, for we are, again, talking about the beautiful profession called grindcore. Carcass' grindcore, that is.

The County Medical Examiners has to be one of the more interesting bandnames around, but it seems rather logical if you take in mind the fact these guys are actual practitioners, all over 40 years in age! Now things are getting interesting. The three men appear to have a shared love for the grind legends of Carcass and they decided to start a tribute-act. Since then, the band has grown to one of the most respected bands in the underground scene with two full-lengths and a split with General Surgery in their portfolio.

The three doctors obviously are well trained in this grinding profession; filthy guitars, pounding drums and every now and then some sick pitchshifter-vocals to give the medically precise lyrics a bloody edge. This obviously sounds like Carcass, but the band is the first to admit it. Luckily it's not all bashing and grinding; they aren't afraid of swinging in a melodic solo here and there, the bass even gets this honour during 'Casper's Dictum', which provides for a unique sound. A very decent record in retrospect, and surely not one of those average new death/grind records with which we are flooded today.


Rating: 80/100 (details)

http://www.thecountymedicalexaminers.com

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