The more recent dumbing down of entry level death metal ah via hardcore inspired mosh metal simplicity achieved much of its hype for the sake of the conversation it created, or, the strong trade-off between positive and negative reactions all that big dumb chugging called for. Numbers are everything and getting there by any means offers powerful validation for the algorithm-conscious new breed though low-cal vignettes of potently generic death metal distillate wouldn’t (at all) be my choice for the future of death metal. Despite all canonical credibility being dumpstered on sight, the success of simplicity has been a remarkable feat per how little thought went into that wave’s impetus beyond a few folks juicing their trust funds for drug money + deluxe glitter infused cassette runs and excess merch. I’m not even sure I would lump Cleveland, Ohio-based death metal quartet 200 STAB WOUNDS into that mix beyond guilt by association as we find each of their three official releases thus far right on the crest of the wave, spot-on reading the room on where to go next when making each statement. That is to say that their sophomore full-length album ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘ drops into the big leagues having fully wiped clean the brutal slop n’ slap of their debut. Sure, hey, they’re still dogging on those grooves harder than many but the chug-wall of the past has eased some, instead we get a brief record which takes its time developing its atmosphere and flow to such a degree that their songwriting hand is nigh unrecognizable beyond a few clutch chunks in the midst. It’d had me asking exactly where did this change come from and does it relate to the willfully ignorant modus that made them?

200 Stab Wounds formed as death/thrash metal band Subtype Zero were winding down in their activities, soon giving way to a couple of contemporary brutal death metal bands including Mutilation Barbecue, who also had a new record out earlier this year, but with more of the line-up gravitating into this band. When considering the perspective of mid-20’s folks in the Midwest who’d cut their teeth on a traditional horror-themed death and thrash metal education you’ll get a much better sense of where the many facets of ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘ are coming from when looking a little deeper into their past and present projects. Even still, stepping into their debut EP, ‘Piles of Festering Decomposition‘ (2020) was mega dumb at the time as a groove driven and belligerent plunger pump of stomp riffs and swaggering roar. That releases generally raw loudness and an unreal performance from vocalist/guitarist Steve Buhl did kinda justify it being noticed but not necessarily for its riffcraft. From that point the band’s focus went from pulling simple hardcore grooves and transitioning into breakdowns predictably on each song toward a more advanced state of performance on their debut album (‘Slave to the Scalpel‘, 2021) which I’d reviewed in brief, suggesting: “this is a sort of halfway there take on brutal death metal which doesn’t necessarily pass the Dying Fetus litmus test for pit-heavy riff count and I’d found the full listen short and directionless because of this.” while appreciating that they’d injected far more substantial interest into that record otherwise. I’d “gotten” the appeal of it but none of it’d proven itself as a fixation.

Though I can’t say I was anticipating the 200 Stab Wounds‘ quick hop to a much bigger label as most of their Maggot Stomp alumni and/or contemporaries (Frozen Soul, Sanguisugabogg) haven’t been all that exciting when set in a bigger pond and strained for (specifically musical) ideas but I did enjoy the entirely straight forward chop of their “Masters of Morbidity” 7″ single back in early 2023. Sure, it had that meat-and-potatoes chunk to it but I’d felt the production values were more suitable for a band which’d always been more of a here and now kind of gig rather than anything actually canonically interested in real ‘old school’ death metal representation. The higher riff count and crisped-up production values might’ve sapped some of their sonic personae on that single but it’d otherwise help ease us into their current third phase with ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘, an album which is kinda what you’d expect it to be but also, in my case, a much better death metal album than I’d gone in anticipating.

Getting a young band on the road and testing their capabilities, their pull, and general appeal within a big tour or two is a big opportunity that 200 Stab Wounds have taken on like champs. I mean it is dumb ass gory death metal not prog-rock theatre, eh, and while fortitude for performance doesn’t necessarily translate to increasing potential of an artist’s authorship you can feel the professional standard for the band, the cleanliness of their takes, and a sense of how these songs are going to hit live applied to and considered within their compositions on ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘. That is to say that the idea they’ve been presenting from the start now makes functional sense in motion where the pit riffs are now fed into slightly more complex, sometimes thrashing diction and their taste for downstroked brutal death metal chop-ins (see: “Gross Abuse”) continues to develop as we flail through the first three or four songs.

The propulsion offered by 200 Stab Wounds‘ knack for thrash-level grinds and slower burning mosh metal asides works even better without the cavernous early 2000’s brutal death production values applied though we do lose some of the hard-ass severity of their whole deal in the process of clarification and detailing. There is some sense that pulling off opener “Hands of Eternity” wouldn’t have hit as well as it does without that level of polish applied as the classic arpeggiated acoustic guitar movement and eerie synth that leads us in already feels like the work from a different species of band and we’re not even in the thick of the tremolo picked riff sections and pit hardcore break later on in the piece, this is already far more capable and ambitious than prior and they’ve not left behind the blunt and brutal dummied up side of things at all. At face value it sounds like a melodic death/thrash metal band going brutal death and keeping the songs tightly cut down to just the essential rush of their movement and this is especially true as we reach the title track (“Manual Manic Procedures”) and some of that melodeath swing begins to glare in its second half.

Is any of this all that keen for my own taste? Eh, I think a lot of death metal fans will find ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘ well produced, tightly writ, and even kind of adventurous in the way they’ve developed bigger moments throughout the full listen but it’d been the more out-there steps taken that’d gotten my attention beyond filling any dead space with modern thrash riffs. “Led to the Chamber/Liquified” for example is a mostly instrumental mid-album piece which explores a headier realm, eventually cutting a decent lead and jamming out as it ends. While this might hit some folks as transitional filler I’d felt it added to the atmosphere otherwise suggested by the opener, going a long way in building a coherent session out of this erratic and ever forward ripping death metal album. Yes, it only gets more hardcorish as things burn on into Side B and the guest vocal spots only emphasize this. No, I couldn’t hang with every single riff, much less every song on this album.

200 Stab Wounds aren’t necessarily my kind of thing outside of a live setting where the impact of performance in motion is most primal. As such I’d found myself sitting with this record on repeat to start, enjoying the heavy roll of its rhythms and it wasn’t long before my hand began reaching for the skip button, at least beyond the first fifteen or so minutes of each spin. After oversaturating my brains with the general ride through its rhythms I’d found ‘Manual Manic Procedures‘ impressive in the context of their discography and as an extension in overall development of personalized sound and style. Unfortunately the research and exploration phases were all that I could hang around for before the shallow depth of the experience urged it was time to move on. That said I would place this album as above-average work set upon a general audience, an example of this bombastic modern style of death metal done with plenty of energy and a thrashing, grooving touch which feels like the right direction for a band likely to aim for consistency in the future. They’ve taken a fiery leap into semi-new territory with commanding pro-level energy here and it is already far more interesting than the work of their suggested peers elsewhere in similar station. See if it is your gig even if it isn’t entirely for me. A moderately high recommendation.

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