Amputated – Gargling With Infected Semen

Bristol based extreme death metal band, Amputated, have made a name for themselves in the metal world in two very different ways. Firstly from their rather obscene, repulsive and downright sick minded song titles and themes and secondly by their appearance on the cheesy BBC Three, fly on the wall documentary, entitled Singing with the Enemy. A band in all their gore obsessed glory; Amputated have recently re-released their 2006 full debut album, Gargling with Infected Semen, on Severed records, including some rather special extras including: Seven extremely brutal live bootlegs (from one of their concerts in London), alternative album artwork and booklet and last but not least, some revamped intro sound clips that should definitely be X rated. Gargling with Infected Semen is clearly an album written to shock audiences, made up of some of the finest examples of death metal which show why Amputated are one of the best death metal bands of the 21^st century!

The songs on Gargling with Infected Semen are almost punk like in the way they are structured and performed, steering towards a short snappy approach to song writing, ensuring that songs such as ‘Raped with a Jackhammer’, ‘Love’em and Cleave’em’ and ‘Lesbian Coprophagia’ hit the listener with full force – not only catching them off guard with a brutal assault of fast aggressive guitar riffs and violent pig squeals, but also igniting the listener into a headbanging frenzy as the groove infected choruses and smash through your speakers.

Although singer, “Morbid Mark”, has recently left the band, his legacy will ever live on with these kick ass death metal hits. It is said you have to be extremely talented to master the art of “Proper” guttural death metal growls and black metal pig squeals, and it is clear from tracks like ‘Menstrual Cunt Fart’, ‘Anally Disembowelled (Weapons of Ass Destruction)’ and ‘Dead Hungry’ that Mark is by far one of the most talented death metal singers going, giving the likes of George Corpsegrinder Fisher, Barney Greenway and Chris Reifert  a run for their money, whilst making every moment of Gargling with Infected Semen as astoundingly good as it is.

But, what tops off this re-issue most is the brilliant live tracks that have been added to the end of the album. It’s great to hear tracks such as ‘Projectile Beer Vomit’, ‘Uterus Swollen with Festering Putrescence’ and ‘Cunt like a Sewer’ – (These being off their recent effort Wading Through rancid Offal), as well as songs off of Gargling with Infected Semen through a set of headphones. The rough bootleg sound makes these live tracks sound so intimate, loud and ever driving forward; making this live show seem more like a mass execution in a pig slaughter house.

If you need something more brutal than brutal death metal in your life, perhaps a band whose lyrics are heavily influenced by porn and murder, then the re-issue of Gargling with Infected Semen by Amputated is an album you must have in your collection. Made up of 17 both studio and live death metal masterpieces, Amputated will not only blow your mind with their awesome musicianship, but empty out the contents of your stomach with just how sick and twisted this band can get! [9/10]