Korpse – Insufferable Violence
Release Date: 26th February 2021
Label: Unique Leader Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
FFO: Devourment, Kraanium, Disgorge, Mortician and the brilliantly named ‘Maximise Bestiality’.
Review By: Paul Cairney
‘Ramping up the heavy with this one!’, was the potentially bold claim by Bossman Dave in sending me the 3rd album, ‘Insufferable Violence’, by Dutch band ‘Korpse’. To be fair, the Bossman wasn’t wrong. This is a fuck-off heavy album with riffs that will tear your spleen, daring you to remove it with your bare hands. It also appears to feature a drummer, Marten van Kruijssen, with at least 3 arms, potentially 4, who beats his kit into an inch of its Brutal Death Metal life.
The biggest joy, and ultimately biggest failing, of Insufferable Violence is that Korpse deliver superb Slam, or Brutal Death Metal. If you are not a fan of this particular genre, then you will not enjoy this album, nor is it a gateway into the genre. This is a genuinely intense album. Opening Track ‘PTSD’ sets the unrelenting, unapologetic tone. Fail to get on board with the opening track and you may as well put on the new, pathetically average, Foo Fighters album.
However, if it strikes a crushingly heavy chord, then the 38 minutes Korpse proceed to deliver will not disappoint. Sven van Dijk spits out the remnants of his riff-spoiled spleen in each and every guttural note he delivers. His grunted scream in ‘Self Preservation’ is particularly impressive and would leave lesser vocalists lying in a pool of their own inferiority.
5th track, ‘A Final Lesson’ is, perhaps, a lesson in pure Death Metal Aggression. Despite its slower passages, it epitomises the album, and the Brutal genre it fills. It will probably kill those who listen to mainstream music, stopping their heart dead as they lament the latest generic, label driven, teen idol tosh.
Insufferable Violence is by no means perfect. It suffers from the ‘repetitive’ issue that can dominate the genre. Even at a mere 38 minutes long, it is an album that feels longer, almost outstaying it’s welcome. It also demands an uninterrupted, focused listen, it is not album that you put on to pass the time, or for background music as you read a book.
On the plus side, track 7, ‘Callousness’, is like witnessing a stampeding herd of Buffalo, exciting but also ever so slightly scary. It is a song that stands astride the whole album like the proverbial colossus, exuding dominance and a little bit of class. Personally, I would have named the album after this song.
There is a rather difficult issue in rating this album. It is not accessible. It does not make you want to listen to it again and again and again. It is very much a mood album. It will not convert the casual metalhead into a fan of Brutal Death Metal, nor indeed Korpse themselves. The superb cover art will be the first thing to put people off, it would be banned in the 80s.
In saying this, I am sure that Korpse don’t give a fuck about weak-ass casual metalheads. Insufferable Violence is an album that does not relent, nor does it apologise for what it is. It is a truly heavy experience, it does not want to give you a fuzzy glow after listening, it wants to crush you under the weight of its sheer brutality. In doing so, Korpse do succeed, but the album is ultimately restricted by the band’s chosen genre.
(3.5 / 5)
