…with the left leg maimed at the ankle and the right leg rigor’d without any bend remaining in the knee the shambling of the corpse awakened reaches a comical level of futile scrimmage. Arms tucked stiffly at its suit-bound sides, an ancient hammer wound gaping the skull beneath the leather of its face, all of this topped by a years-yellowed glass eye dangling a few inches out its socket. Some minutes later, the maniacal circular waltzing of the beast having failed to intensify in pursuit of its prey, the dragging loose fibers of the foot finally crack free from the leg itself. The corpse’s head locks into pristine moonlight-catching angle as its shoulder drops into sway beneath the foot’s departure. The eye swings aglow, neon in its luminescence as it traces along a perfect golden spiral during this brief stumble, a mathematically perfect horror light show for a singular moment. Slow, slumped over, eerily fascinating and occasionally capable of an inspired acrobatic collapse or two Romanian ‘old school’ influenced death metal quartet Putred manage an eerie spectacle on this modest yet effective debut full-length. ‘Repulsie Post-Mortem‘ certainly reads as brutal, fearsome in the horrified atmosphere it’d generate yet the slinking about it does at such an innocuous pace makes for a blunted instrument, a callous yet easily escapable act which leaves the fear mild and my body willing to wait up a bit so that I don’t miss any more body parts crumbling off in pursuit.

Putred formed in 2020 by way of prolific death metal musician Uriel Aguillon aka Exhumator who has been variously active in death metal since the early 90’s with Morbicus (no, not Mordicus of ‘Dances From Left‘ infamy) and various other groups until moving to Romania in 2014. It’d be some time until this project formed, assumedly during the pandemic that year, where he’d pulled in folks from various related projects (Vorus and Reveler, mainly) for a first demo tape (‘Necroza‘, 2020) soon after. Their ‘old school’ mid-paced death metal sound seemed more directly influenced by 90’s doom metal at the time, still straightforward stuff aiming for shambling grooves which’ve stuck with the band since. Their idea was almost fully formed at that point but it’d be a matter of iterating, leaving the core crew intact beyond swapping in Mexican drummer Degradare Perpetuă on the ‘Execrat din Morm​â​nt‘ (2021) demo and making quick progress of a simple classic mid-to-slow paced death metal concept beyond that point. The band’s second demo re-emphasized and early Paradise Lost influence in terms of Exhumator‘s leads but this seemed to be a placeholder for something more thoughtful down the line as those first two tapes were definitely functional as actual demos, relics of the process rather than the usual nowadays fully pro demo tapes we’re used to getting today. At the time those first two demos left me interested but not invested.

Mid-year, or just a few months later, Putred sounded a bit more ready for an official release with their ‘Teroarea Incarnată‘ (2021) demo, it’ll have to be the tape that served the main precedence for where the band would end up in terms of style, a creeping and grooving sound which they’d perfected between splits and rehearsal recordings along the way. Now fully pro sounding and expanded with plenty more eerie leads ‘Repulsie Post-Mortem‘ will likely impress fans of the steadier, simpler side of United States death metal today but, without fucking around with boring hardcore or groove metal riffs. Think of a somewhat stoney groove applied to Desecresy‘s creeping ways minus the cavernous, homebrewed aspect and odd-timed movement otherwise associated with that band’s progression. It isn’t as unique a cacophony as Bucharest’s Rotheads either yet but, there is a similarly groaty signature to be found forming within Putred‘s debut, a sound which should attract old school death/doom metal fans who appreciate the weirder side of the early sub-genre in the late 80’s/early 90’s Netherlands and nearby.

Oddly enough one major point of that signature comes from the bassist, Tenebra, who’d been added to the line-up as the multi-talented solo band frequenter Cremator (Demoted, Vorus) swapped his vocalist/bassist role to vocals/rhythm guitars. Though part of this extra emphasis on the bass guitar tone is the result of very clean and present production values (the master from Resonance Sound Studio helps) the pronounced and occasionally inventive touches of the bass guitar performances (see: “Exsicat…Mumificat”, “Duhoare de Moarte”) make just enough of a difference in giving ‘Repulsie Post-Mortem‘ something that’d felt a step beyond their prior material but still blunt and primitive all the same.

Though there are a few clear highlights on the full listen you’ll have to head in expecting the slight variations and singular focus of a modern ‘old school’ minded death metal record with its own weirding twist upon the action. The pacing feels unique enough as we bound into the memorably bopping opener “Peste Umbra Densă”, a great piece to return to whenever the full listen cycles back to it, the first half of the album uses the core elements of this piece to develop variations and flesh the idea out. Slower syncopated rhythms, eerie leads, and bigger grooves are the gist of it. Things start to get most interesting halfway through with “Mutilare Spirituală”, one of the more imposing, doom-rock grooving riffs on the record which you might recognize from their split release with Erupted (Paraguay) back in 2021. If there is a best representative song on the album that’d more-or-less be it. The next two pieces make up the real peak of my interest in the full listen though I’d felt like Putred managed a very strong opener and closing piece (“Marșul Morților”) to round out the full listen. The early Asphyx cover (“Rite of Shades” from the ‘Crush the Cenotaph‘ demo) is a cool add but it only adds to the drone of the full listen.

It’d almost sound reductive to say ‘Repulsie Post-Mortem‘ is a “good start” for Putred, it is a solid album that delivers upon the sound they’d envisioned a couple of years ago on their first few demo tapes, giving a well-polished and altogether improved version of a sound and style with uncomplicated ‘old school’ death metal appeal. Is it primitive? Meat-and-potatoes? Death/doom? Kind of all of those things but just enough of an experience that it’d quickly prove itself easy to sit with for repeated sessions as a kinda catchy, easy to appreciate growler. A moderately high recommendation.

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