Reviews of 'Thriving on carnage'
Here you can find reviews of our debut album 'Thriving on Carnage'. Note that some of the reviews are in Dutch and German.
Review by Collateral damage
Review by Earshot (in German)
Review by Culture club
Review by Possessed (in German)
Review by Impaired
Review by Splattered webzine
Review by Brutalism
Review by Shouts of metal
Review by Dead webzine
Review by Fleshrites
Review by Corridor of cells
Review by Graveyard (in German)
Review by Blackfuel (in Dutch)
Review by Braindead
Review by Never ending hate
Review by Unholy page
Review by Vates Noctis (in German)
Review by Gore deathgrind webzine
Review by Metal domination
Review by Lords of metal (in Dutch)
Review by Musketeer of death
Review by Ad Noctum (in German)
Review by Amboss (in German)
Review by Wrox (in German)
Review by Deluge
Review by Jackal blaster
Review by Noizy Asyleum
Review by Gothcore (in Dutch)
Review by Aversionline
Review by Metalcore fanzine
Review by Battlezine
Review by Eternal frost webzine
Review by Schwermetall (in German)
Review by Still online
Review by Xtreem music
Review by Into obscurity
Review by Pull the chain
Review by Obscura
Review by Mordor Magazine (in German)
Reviews of the promo
A 3-track promo of the album has been sent to many labels and magazines. Here you can find several reviews of this promo.
Review by Xtreem music
Review by Zware metalen.com (in Dutch)
Review by Death metal webzine
Review by Vates noctis (in German)
Review by Nocturnal hall (in German)
Review by Vampire magazine
Review by Braindead
Review by Metallization
Review by Lords of metal (in Dutch)
Review by Wrox.net (in German)
Review by Nihilistic holocaust
Review by Martelgang (in Dutch)
Review by Deathgrind Webzine
Review by Collateral Damage
Review by Deadtide
Review by Deluge Webzine
Review by Bloody Orgasm
Reviews of 'Thriving on carnage'
Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Collateral damage
Excellent! This lot sent me a promo CD a little while ago and I was impressed by that to the point that I was gonna buy this, however the band decided to grace me with a copy instead! Thanks!!!! OK, enough of that, back to the CD in hand. The grind/ crust on this hasn’t dropped one iota from the promo, in fact this includes those tracks amongst the 7 on here, and the 4 other tracks are just as amazing. There seems to be a lot of variety to this release, I mean its not straying to far from the traditional crust grind boundaries but there are mixed elements in here, from the groovecore on ‘Torchure’, through the Crowbar stylings at the start of ‘Miscloned’ to the devastating gorecore on ‘Flock’. Man, the production on this is excellent too, everything is really clear and works well, the music is crushing and brutal and the blasting is unrelenting. What more could you possibly want? Get in touch with this lot and give this a go!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Earshot
Juchu, endlich haben es die holländischen Crust-Grinder mit dem unaussprechlichen Namen geschafft, den Nachfolger zur 2001er Promo auf den Markt zu werfen - und vorab kann ich euch schon einmal versichern, dass auf der aktuellen MCD "Thriving on carnage" die Qualität der drei bereits auf der Promo vertretenen Songs gehalten werden konnte. Sieben bereits Ende 2001 aufgenommene Songs fanden ihren Weg auf die ursprünglich als Split gedachte Mini, die es ingesamt auf knapp 20 Minuten Spielzeit bringen und wie auch schon die drei Vorabversionen zwischen Crust und Grind hin- und herpendeln. Obwohl DESENSITISED mehr oder weniger eigenständig agieren, sind doch einige Parallelen zu DESECRATION (UK), älteren NASUM, ganz alten ROTTEN SOUND, NAPALM DEATH in der Anfangsphase sowie dem NAPALM DEATH-Sideproject DEFECATION unschwer zu erkennen - allerdings nicht nur musikalisch, sondern auch textlich - wie auch schon die Vorbilder NAPALM DEATH muss man auch bei DESENSITISED teilweise zwischen den Zeilen lesen, um die Aussage der weitgehend sozialkritischen Texte verstehen zu können. Ähnlich wie NASUM und ROTTEN SOUND setzen die Holländer aber nicht nur auf Blastpassagen wie NAPALM DEATH zu ihren Anfängen, sondern verbinden die schnelleren Passagen mit langsameren, groovenden, tonnenschweren - beinahe erdrückenden - Breaks, besonders die Gitarre (die übrigens von einer Frau gebändigt wird) sägt sich einer Kettensäge auf Speed gleich quer durch den Acker, und das mit einer Mörderwucht, dass es nur so eine Freude ist! Aber auch das Gesamtobjekt kann sich soundtechnisch sehen und hören lassen - mit sowohl einer bodenständigen, klaren und hammerharten Produktion als auch einer professionellen Aufmachung rundet der Vierer den Hörgenuss optimal ab - nur schade, dass der Ohrgasmus schon nach so kurzer Zeit vorüber ist - gottseisgedankt kann man CDs öfter als einmal abspielen ;) Für meine Begriffe sind DESENSITISED die optimale Abwechslung zu den "ich grunz permanent auf 300 Metern unterm Meeresspiegel während wir uns mit 800 bps durch den Urwald hacken" Partien, die zwar auch äußerst geil sein können, aber ein bisschen Abwechslung und Eigenständigkeit hat noch nie geschadet und DESENSITISED beweisen, dass man heute auch anders geil klingen kann - "Thriving on carnage" ist absoluter Pflichtkauf!!!!
Score: 7 out of 7
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Culture club
Desensitised (what a name!) from the Netherlands, formerly known as Catafalque bring us their first MCD with 7 short and brutal grind tracks injected with a huge death metal flavour. The music is well played but kinda basic, still the cool grind riffs and the variated voice help me to keep attentive. Talkin' about that voice, in the beginning it's rather strange cause it sounds quite metalcore-ish, but there is a good brutal low grunt present too, so you won't hear me complaining about that. The production sounds really fat, and that's quite necessary for their rather low and downtuned sound. I think this band still needs to mature a bit and they really have to pick another cover next time, but after all I listened to this first release with a big smile on my face. good job! And, oh yeah, nice lyrics by the way ;-)!
Score: 3 out of 5
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Possessed
Der Name war mir ja schon bekannt, aber die Mucke nicht. Tja, das macht wohl das Internet. Bin natürlich neugierig geworden und hier ist es nun, das Exemplar. Aber langsam an, hehe. Die Band gründete sich 1994 in der Niederlande und hieß damals noch Catafalquw. Unter diesen Namen brachte man dann auch das Demo:"Your final ride " heraus. Der Sänger verließ die Band und das Trio Infernale zockte mit Bands wie Dead Infection, Rot, Inhume, Agothecles, Malignant Tumour, Rebaelliun und anderen zusammen. Nach erneuten Memberwechsel ändert man den Namen im September in Densesitised. Schon wieder Mitgliederänderungen, steigt ja man gar nicht meht durch. Im July 2002 erschien dann endlich diese MCD. 7 Songs in knappen 18 Minuten lassen darauf schließen, daß es sich um brutalen Death/Grind handelt. Und so ist es auch. Tja, wat neues gibt es hier nicht. Die Refrains sind ziemlich cool gemacht, die gehen in die Knochen und in den Kopf, denn sie sind absolut headbanging kompatibel und das Riffing ist auch in Ordnung, nur das Schlagzeug ist mir zu langsam. Immer wenn es vom Riffing her schneller wird, dann kommt er irgendwie nicht mit. Das nimmt einer Band schon ein wenig die Brutalität und die die Songs werden lascher, vielleicht ist es aber ja auch gewollt. Anosnten können sich die 7 Stoßgebete hören lassen. Für Kumpels, die auf Death/Grind abfahren. Nichts weltbewegendes, aber auch nicht, um abzuschalten
Score: 3 out of 5
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Impaired
This the new band 's name of a band from the same country of course called CATAFALQUE. I'm sure thta some of us had already saw them on stage for some grind core gigs. This is a brutal death band performing 7 song sof this CD with not so easy to recognize metal influences. They have the grind core in the vein and not trying to be the more brutal, the ugliest, the porno profesionalest or whatever could it be, they are playing their part. I agree with some who could say and think that it is sometimes long to start and blast. Sure the intros and the laucnhes of the songs are quite not so easy and I must admit that albums like CEREBRAL TURBULENCY, BIRDFLESH or ALIENATION MENTAL gave this year the tempo and the level is incredible. But for those of you who are not completely into the grind core underground scene and who are nostalgic reminding the old death metal 1990, well DESENSITISED is the best drugg for ya. They are describing themselves like that: brutal death grind . I can't give a best description of the band than that. far to be the last revelation of the month they are making their stuff and that s all. The sound is good and the release simple.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Splattered webzine
DESENSITISED play death metal, but it sounds more crustish/hardcorish to me. As with most grind, you have two contrasting vocals: low grunts and raspy hard line screams. The music itself isn't very complex but you still get a lot of blast beats and grinding riffs. But apart from that, the music is original with obvious CARCASS and NAPALM DEATH influences. The sound quality was good and none of the songs sucked, and for an MCD they did a damn good job. The sound of the drums was the best part of the CD for me, I thought they were powerful and dynamic. It didn't take me long to get into it this, so if you like death metal with grind core and punk influences, get this CD.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Brutalism
A new band from Holland that plays brutal death with grind influences. Started out as Catafalque (1994), having line up problems and even stopped for a while the picked up the instruments in 1998 to start again. On this CD there are 7 songs played in the style mentioned before. Brutal vocals, hammering drums and raging guitars. A pity that there are no shredding guitarleads (due to the fact there is only one guitarplayer?) because that would give the songs a little push and more value. Anyway the songs are heavy and promising.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Shouts of metal
This MCD comes from holanda, it is a Grind/Core of the old school, its influences are clear: Agathocles and Dead Infection, the band you forms in 1994 and they threw their first called demo "Final Your Ride" in 1995 when CATAFALQUE called themselves, in 1998 they have some changes of integral, already in the 2001 they decide to change the name to the current one that is DESENSITISED, in Julio the 2002, they decide to publish this MCD 07 you fear Grind/Core with parts Death that which makes it very interesting to our hearings. Each topic invites you to the total mosh, the guitar sounds rolling, contact the band for interviews and to acquire its MCD.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Dead webzine
THE BAND WAS FORMED BY SUSAN GERL (GUITAR/ ADDITIONAL VOCALS) BUT DO NOT EXPECT TO HEAR A "BEAUTIFUL" FEMALE VOCALS AND GOTHIC (BORING ) SOUNDS ( THAT MAKES ALL SICK VERY FAST) OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT ON THIS DISK. SHE FOUND OF AN EARLY CARCASS MUSIC. SO GOTHIC / BLACK METAL FANS / WORSHIPERS SHOULD AVOID THIS DISK (AND MY ZINE ) AS A PLAGUE OR AN EBOLA. OK. WE HAVE HERE A FIRST GRIMPSE OF DESENSITISED (PRE- NAME IS CATAFALQUE). MCD HAS A VERY GOOD PRODUCTION, VERY BRUTAL AND ORIGINAL. IT'S DISTANTLY REMINDS ME OF SCROTUM GRINDER(USA), NASUM(SWE), INHUMATE (FRA), BUT NEVER MIND. BRAIN ANNIHILATING BLASTS, DUAL VOCAL ASSAULT AND RAZOR-LIKE GUITAR RIFFS - IS IT ENOUGH TO BUY THIS DISK? I THINK YES!!! WHAT , DO YOU WANT MORE? OK! : BRUTAL ,SOMETIMES CHAOTIC DEATH METAL WITH ELEMENTS OF FINE GRIND : 100% QUALITY, 100% MIND SATISFACTION GUARANTED. THESE 7 BLASTS OF DEATH/GRIND CARNAGE WILL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF AND MAKE YOUR EARS BLEEDS FOREVER!!! RECOMMENDED BY DEADWEBZINE, ENJOY!!!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Fleshrites
From the depths of The Netherlands, some years ago (1994), a band called Catafalque was born from the sickness of Jozef, Susan and Rutger, playing insane, rotted metal. That band, after some changes, gigs and a demo, decided to change name to Desensitised (more accurated and easiest to remember). With new blood on the band (Susan on guitars/back vokills, Steven on main grunts and frenzy screams, Rutger on drums and Mark on bass), they recorded their first opus of sick malignancy, "Thriving On Carnage", after wich Rutger left the band. On these 7 tracks of bloody impurity, Desensitised comes with a real thunder like distorted guitar sound, and devastating voice, to blow all the heads in front of speakers!. Pure rotted grind death on it´s greatest and sickest way, remembering me first Nasum alsum, as well as Regurgitate, something from Inhume (not very much, but there´s something..), but having some death like riffs on the way of Nembrionic, My Mind´s Mine and Depraved. Not trendy band, just hate unleashed through music, having a superb vocal work. The bad thing could be that perhaps main of the tracks some so similar, having less variation that I usually like, but remembering we have here only 7 tracks (16 min), it´s ok!. If you like this kind of madness and do you see it on an store, don´t forget to ask for playing it loud... the seller will be afraid with the music, but you´ll have a sure cd for your collection!.
Score: 8.75 out of 10
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Corridor of cells
7 songs of death/grind from this new Dutch outfit. The sound quality is actually fairly acceptable, featuring a good strong guitar sound and pretty well produced drums. Riff-wise, these guys show a lot of hard-core roots (not surprising considering their grind inclinations), preferring simplicity and good old-fashioned fast chugging instead of anything more complex or melodic. The vocals are of the screaming variety, spiced up with death growling, providing a well rounded vocal assault for the listener. The songwriting is pretty straightforward, although it varies the rhythm enough to stop it from falling into a monotonous rut that many other grind-oriented bands are guilty off. Regardless, speed, blasting and brutality are the name of the game here and despite lacking some finesse, it works pretty well. All in all, a decent new addition to the extreme/metal scene.
Score: 6 out of 10
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Graveyard
1994 gegründet und am Stil alter Napalm Death angelehnt, prügelten Desensitised ein Grindcorebrett alter Schule in den Dé Studios ein. Soundmäßig ist die Scheibe gut produziert und könnte durchaus von einem renommierten Label veröffentlicht worden sein. Lediglich die zwei flinken Füße und der E-Bass hätten einwenig mehr an Lautstärke vertragen können . Die Lieder sind gut strukturiert und verstehen es gekonnt Blastpassagen, Groovestellen und gekonnte Breaks zu vereinen. Die Leadvocals wurden von Steven eingesungen und wissen in voller Linie zu überzeugen. Die Vocals pendeln einwenig zwischen ganz tiefem Gegrunze (vermutlich von Susan, die ebenfalls für die Gitarre zuständig ist, eingegrunzt) , geilem crust- oder grindcoretypischem Gesang und hohen Kreischern. Susan, ihres Zeichen einziges noch in der Band aktives Mitglied, ist hier für die Gitarre verantwortlich. Die Riffs sind weitgehend gut gelungen und bestehen überwiegend aus Powerchords. Soundtechnisch gibt es hier auch nichts auszusetzen, wie gesagt fast einwandfrei. Rutger, der Schlagzeuger hat auch was aufn Kasten und weiß sein Können auch richtig einzusetzen und die Musik von Desensitsed mit genügend Blasts zu untermalen. Mark, der Bassist achtete leider nicht genug darauf dass der Bass mehr in den Vordergrund rückt und so ist der Bass leider oft nicht zu vernehmen. Alles in allem eine wirklich gelungene Scheibe die ich jedem Grinder empfehlen kann.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Blackfuel
Deze Nederlandse band timmert al sinds 1994 aan de weg en ging aanvankelijk onder de naam Catafalque door het leven. In die hoedanigheid brachten de heren Jozef (bas, vocalen), Rutger (drums, vocalen) en dame(!) Susan (gitaar, vocalen) een demo, getiteld ‘Your Final Ride’ uit. In dat zelfde jaar kwam zanger Jo de gelederen versterken, zodat de overige bandleden zich meer op hun instrumentarium konden focussen. Een jaar later verliet Jo de band echter weer en als three-piece deed de band een aantal optredens met o.a het Nederlandse Inhume en het Braziliaanse Rebaelliun. Door een immer rommelende bezetting ziet de band zich kort daarop genoodzaakt om het bijltje erbij neer te gooien. Maar het bloed stroomt waar het niet gaan kan, dus in 1998 maakt de band een doorstart. In de persoon van Steven wordt een nieuwe zanger gevonden en de band, die op dat moment verder bestaat uit Susan op gitaar en Rutger op drums, dus zonder bassist gaat werken aan nieuw materiaal. In 2001 wordt de naam gewijzigd in Desensitised. Tot zover de geschiedenisles. Begin dit jaar verscheen de zeven tracks tellende MCD ‘Thriving on Carnage’ en het resultaat mag er zeker wezen. De band beschrijft zijn eigen stijl als extreme death metal met grindcore-invloeden en daar kan ik me prima in vinden, aangezien death metal zeker de boventoon voert. Het eerste nummer ‘Flock’ heeft door de mid-tempo passages echter hier en daar wat weg van een hardcorenummer. Mijns inziens ligt pure hardcore en grindcore sowieso niet zo ver uit elkaar, dus dat kan wel kloppen. In vergelijking met de overige tracks vind ik de schreeuwerige zang in dit nummer trouwens redelijk matig, want ik vind dat de vocalen in de overige nummers een stuk beter uit de verf komen. De nummers kennen een goede opbouw en staan redelijk op zichzelf. Vooral het overtuigende riffwerk van Susan verdient een vermelding. Dirk Miers heeft in Dé Studio dit schijfje van een moddervet geluid voorzien waarin alle elementen prima te horen zijn. De teksten hebben, naast de gebruikelijke bloed, moord en ingewandentaferelen, een licht misantropisch karakter, wat mij wel aanspreekt. Lees bijvoorbeeld maar eens de tekst, behorend bij het nummer ‘Hidden in the Ground’. Over de hele linie wordt strak gemusiceerd en de band weet zeven nummers lang goed te boeien. Mijn persoonlijke favoriet is het nummer ‘Masochistic Masculinity’, waarin alle pluspunten van Desensitised op positieve manier verenigd zijn, namelijk razende passages, vette riffs en meer slepende momenten. Als ik me niet vergis betreft het hoesje een foto van de catacomben in de Franse hoofdstad, waarin een kilometers lang ondergronds gangenstelsel akelig gestructureerd de beenderen van zo’n zes miljoen Parijzenaren opgestapeld liggen. Niet bijster origineel dus, want dit heb ik al behoorlijk vaak voorbij zien komen, Ditzelfde geldt niet voor de muziek die wel degelijk een eigen smoelwerk laat zien. Al met al een prima levensteken van deze band, al lijkt me dit toch vooral een band die je live moet meemaken. Ik denk namelijk dat er op de Nederlandse podia nog genoeg potten te breken zijn voor Desensitised.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Braindead
Solid, thrashing death metal. Original compositions, diverse song structures in the lines of late Carcass and Kreator. Sharp, heavy, energic guitar riffs, tight and pretty skilful drumming, vocal-wise we have mid-high pitched roars (à la Jeff Walker), backing low grunts(à la Bill Steer) and even a welcome use of low, pitch-shifted vocal effects... Expect something more like fast thrash metal, very tightly performed and fast-paced. Blast beats can be found, but it's nothing blazing fast. The band works best with tight midtempos, mucho thrashing and quick changes of pace. I thought it was very effective and catchy all the way, and I never felt bored. The songs flow very well, part thrashing, part melodic and totally effective. I felt the band tried a few original things in their songs while always keeping their kick-ass approach. Overall, Desensitised is very fine consistent metal, so I totally recommend it.
Score: 3.5 out of 5
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Never ending hate
Susan Gerl, ( the guitar player and additional vocals ) send me this record contain 7 songs of a very catchy and aggressive brutal death grind with lots of touch of crust and death thrash assault parts. This maniacs surely know how to make good catchy song without erasing the brutal parts. DESENSITISED mix the elements form Old school death metal, brutal death, crust grind and some deaththrash which i think is really cool. The vocals have several characters from deep low guttural, very powerful growls to shredding screams of hell, the slaying guitar riffs with some slow parts that will make you wanna endlessly slam your body, bang your head insanely, follow by a lethal bass line, the drums section got lots of fast double bass parts, blastbeat and got lots of grind / crust styles. With tracks called Masochistic Masculinity, Torchure, Sacred Slaughter, etc. You know this band got something to offer through the lyrics.
Beware POSERS ! this is NOT for you ! you won't fucking resist ! For all fans of brutal death / grind, get in touch right away and get this grinding death album !
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Unholy page
This band comes from The Netherlands, formed in 1994 under the name of CATAFALQUE, and recording a demo called "Your Final Ride" in 1995. And with problems in the line up they play in several gigs in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with bands like Dead infection, Rot, Inhume, Agathocles, Malignat Tumour, Rebaellium and many more. In September 2001 the band change the name to DESENSITISED and with a stable line up ( Susan - guitars, steven - vocals and Rutger - drums) recorded their debut MCD called "Thriving On Carnage" at Dé Studio and mixed by Dirk Miers and the band, and released in July 2002 by Bleedin' Hemorrhoid Rec., this MCD contains seven tracks containing 16:32 min. of brutal Death / Grind Metal. Mainly the rhythm are Death Metal but includes some ones Thrash and others Grind, with growls and screamings well combined and sometimes at the same time, the guitars riffs are sometimes some melodic and other ones are heavy and raw, ant the drums is the main instrument of aggressiveness with the voices, is a good work of this band and comes with explicit lyrics too. "Flock" opens this production showing a extreme and raw Death Metal with heavy guitars and brutal screams, a part with guttural voice in other rhythm, but returns to the previous one more aggressive, at the end uses two voices at the same time, "Torchure" with a beginning more Heavy Metal on guitars, but after enters to a rhythm more extreme some Grind, with a part more slowly by a moment and screms and growls at the end, "Miscloned" is more speedy the guitars are heavy and uses some harmonics th rhythm is primitive Death Metal in parts, others very aggressive and violents, "Masochistic masculinity" is more Grind in the rhythm, very extreme and, other rhythmical, here use two voices one with growls and other screaming, "Cover up" other song very Grind at the beginning, but turns some Death Metal very raw mainly in the voice and drums, the guitar sometimes are some melodic, a part with a rhythm very Thrash Metal is good and with changes to more brutal, "Hidden in the ground" in this song combine the Thrash and Death metal Rhythm, also a part very extreme almost Grind, other very heavy and dense, and the end is more extreme, and "Sacred slaughter" ending this MCD, with a extreme Death metal and use two voices at the same time too, a part to mid tempo very aggressive, then other time a extreme and brutal part to end.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Vates Noctis
Hier ist sie nun die full length CD von Desensitised! Betietelt mit dem Namen Thriving on Carnage. 7 Songs befinden sich auf der CD von denen bereits 3 auf der letzten Promo CD drauf wahren, nämlich: „Flock“, „Masochistic Mascolinity“, „Miscloned“. Diese 3 Songs ließen mich schon damals auf mehr hoffen und ich wurde auch diesmal nicht enttäuscht! Desensitised präsentieren sich auch diesmal wieder schön heftig! Die Songs gehen ordentlich nach vorne los und sind meist im uptempobereich angesiedelt. Jedoch kommt die Abwechslung nicht zu kurz und so wird oft genug der Fuß vom Gaspedal genommen und dann wird gegroovt was das Zeug hält! Als Highlight der CD würde ich Cover UP bezeichnen, denn hier gibt’s alles was mein Herz begehrt, Blasts, Groove, Grunz/Kreisch Vocals! Was will man mehr! Der Sound von Thriving on Carnage ist auch verdammt gut ausgefallen so das man schön alle Details raushören kann! Das Cover ist das gleiche wie bei der bereits erwähnten 3 Track Promo nur nich in blau sondern diesmal in gelb, auch die Lyrics sind alle abgedruckt! Also alle Death/Grind Freaks sollten hier sofort zuschlagen!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Gore deathgrind webzine
Finally this mcd is out. This release put out young dutch label Bleedin' Hemorrhoid Records. Actually I already reviewed some tracks from this mcd before it out. So, Desensitised play sort of good death/grind, sometimes some parts is similar to grindcore parts, groovy and catchy. But mostly they play good simply and catchy brutal death metal. And as a whole their music inspired by Carcass' "Necroticism" album. Vocals are a mix of pure growls, pitchshifted growls and mid-pitched screams in the vein Of Jeff Walker from Carcass. As for sound production, it's very good, sound totally death metal oriented, clear and brutal with down tuned guitars and fast drums. Also at this time they have good lyrics printed in booklet. Desensitised is another talent band from Netherlands to look for! Anyone interested in obtaining this mcd get in touch with Susan, guitarplayer from Desensitised
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Metal domination
This mini cd must be the first release of the quartet from Netherlands.As many bands from there..they are walking the paths of death metal,influenced from the grind scene also.They use brutal vocs also high pitched.Lyricaly they are into problems of our world and society,talkingabout the war and destruction the so called "religions" brings,about the experiments in the human-dna and cloning,Politicalmatters and politics lies and more..This miniCD includes 7 songs and could easily be an full length album,but maybe the band is preparing for something "bigger"!These guys are worth of your time and money to listen, if you like the good underground death/grind.
Score: 8 out of 10
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Lords of metal
Voor de recensie van deze mcd gaan we terug naar de herfstdagen van vorig jaar. Lord Marco besprak toen de 3 track promo van dit Limburgse Desensitised. Hij omschreef de muziek als een volbloed Death/Grind combinatie. Heerlijk lomp hakkende riffs, vette grunts, een redelijk helder geluid en genoeg afwisseling in de nummers. Lord Marco noemde als herkenningspunten Agathocles en Blood. Ik wil hier de eerste Entombed en Grave, maar ook oude Carcass bij voegen. Buiten de reeds bekende nummers van de promo staan op deze schijf ook de 4 andere nummers uit dezelfde opname sessie van september 2001. ‘Torchure’, ‘Cover Up’ en vooral ‘Hidden In The Ground’ en ‘Sacred Slaughter’ knallen er net zo hard tegenaan. Bovendien vind ik dat Desensitised vooral met de twee laatstgenoemde nummers laat horen dat men ook in deze muziekstijl genoeg variatie in de nummers kan inbouwen zonder aan power te verliezen. Ik hoop dan ook dat deze mcd eindelijk voor een goede deal kan zorgen want dit smaakt duidelijk naar meer. Ook is het te hopen dat de band een stabiele line-up weet neer te zetten, want net nu het balletje gaat rollen is drummer Rutger (Suppository) ermee gestopt.
Deze mcd is trouwens ideaal voor in de pauze van een voetbalwedstrijd op tv. Hij duurt 16 minuten en dat scheelt weer een hoop gezever van de zogenaamde kenners.
Score: 80 out of 100
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Musketeer of death
I put this album in my player and before I knew it was over. 16 minutes and 32 seconds divided into 7 crusty death/grind tracks. But it felt as they were gone in 60 seconds, because you know time flies when you’re having fun. Well that’s what I got with the debut MCD of Desensitised. My neck is still badly damaged by the none desensitising (hell…..I like this word) music they produce. Call it death, call it grind, call it crust well at least before mentioned genres are all woven into it, but with a livid own sound. The songs are fast and brutal with a lot of diversity all played very tightly. The stirring guitars make my blood boil into my veins, the bass gives me from time to time a great feeling in my stomach floating out into the rest of my body. And the explosive drums cause the violent shaking of my limbs. All of this is finished with a great mixture of grunts and screams. This MCD is a relief between the mass of ultra fast played death metal nowadays! Please more of this...
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Ad Noctum
Eine Mischung aus Death Metal und Grindcore präsentieren uns diese 4 Gestalten aus dem Nachbarland Niederlande. Schrecke ich ja bei dem Begriff Grindcore zunächst immer zurück, da ich einfach immer nur 08/15 Musik erwarte, liege ich hier zum Glück falsch. Zwar sind die Songs von Desensitised (komischer Name) auch ziemlich primitiv gestrickt, aber sie klingen einfach richtig geil. Gute Songs müssen nicht immer technisch anspruchsvoll sein, ich denke bei einem Desensitised Konzert könnte es mit dem richtigen Publikum richtig gut abgehen. Zum Glück ist auch der Sound sehr gut ausgefallen, so das die Songs ziemlich wuchtig klingen und eine geballte Ladung Power versprühen. Das Tempo variiert häufig zwischen langsamen und trashigen Passagen, aber besonders die Knüppelpassagen sind dominierend. Gelungen finde ich auch die Tatsache, dass die Band zwei unterschiedliche Gesangsorgane benutzt, wodurch den Songs richtig Leben eingehaucht wird. Dabei handelt es sich beim Sänger Steven eher um eine Mischung aus Trash/Death Gesang, während Gitarristin Susan eher den tiefen Gesang übernommen hat! Also wer sich eine Mischung aus Death / Grind und zum Teil auch etwas Hardcore vorstellen kann, der sollte Desensitised unbedingt mal anchecken, denn die Songs sind schon gut. Leider ist die Spielzeit etwas kurz geraten, aber man kann sich "Thriving on carnage" auch ohne Probleme noch häufiger anhören. Nicht schlecht!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Amboss
Hier wieder ein Album aus der Todesblei Ecke. Die Combo Desensitised aus unserem Nachbarland Holland knüppeln gleich bei ihrem Opener "Flock" mächtig drauf los. Die 1995 entstandene Combo aus Frau Antje’s Heimat hauen euch ein mächtiges Stück untergrundiges Todesblei um die Ohren! Die vier haben mit "Thriving On Carnage" eine echt fiese 7 Track MCD eingedroschen, die sich von Death zu Grind und wieder zurück bewegt. Fans werden auf ihren Geschmack kommen!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Wrox
Die Holländer von Desensitised hatten mir ja schon vor einiger Zeit eine Promo zugeschickt, damit ich mir schon einmal einen ersten Eindruck von „Thriving On Carnage“ machen konnte. Auf der waren damals drei der sieben Tracks enthalten („Flock“, „Masochistic Masculinity“ und Miscloned“), die mich schon stark beeindrucken und überzeugen konnten. Die sicken Vokills von Schreibanane Steven Vaassen plus Backing Growls von Susan (guitars) machen gesanglich einiges her und sind auf alle Fälle ein starkes Wiedererkennungsmerkmal. Irgendwie scheinen die Frauen in Holland ja schon im Kindsalter mit 30 Schachteln pro Monat anzufangen, da Susan ganauso wie Sinisters Rachel Darmgesänge erster Güte beherrscht. Das mir bereits bekannte „Miscloned“ hämmert wieder vom allerfeinsten aus meinen Boxen, doch auch die anderen mir neuen Tracks können mich überzeugen. Das geniale „Cover Up“ sowie der letzte Song „Sacred Slaughter“ lassen keine Wünsche offen. Bei letzerem ist vor allem der geile Mitgröhlteil („Desert Combat,...“) bestimmt ein live-Hammer erster Güte. Der Sound, wie ich schon in meiner anderen Rezi sagte, ist gut abgemischt und kommt fett aus den Boxen Das komische ist nur, das meine PS2 die Platte nie annehmen will und mir nur mit komischen Geräuschen antwortet, aber egal... Die CD hat meine Erwartungen nach dem Hören der Promo getoppt und verdient somit klare 8,5 Punkte
Score: 8.5 out of 10
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Deluge
After receiving hordes of favorable press for their 2001 demo, Amsterdam’s Desensitised has returned with an (almost) album-length disc of thrashy death metal with an occasional nod to the hardcore scene. This release is essentially a reissue of their four demo tracks, along with three new songs which sustain the band’s penchant for writing quick and direct tunes that immediately go for the throat. It could reasonably be argued that the new tracks are a little short on originality, but to do so would be petty and unobjective. It might be easy to discern their influences at times, but I’m hard-pressed to think of any bands that embody them in the same fashion. Their stylistic direction has generally stayed the same over the years, with a pronounced nod toward the structural simplicity of Obituary, or the four-chord riffing that made legends out of Hellhammer and Destruction. However, it seems that I’m the only reviewer who is hearing any of this stuff in Desensitised’s music, as most zines are claiming to hear everything from Napalm Death to Agathocles. I’m at a loss to figure out what they’re referring to, because if either of these bands are really such a strong inspiration here, their impact must be quite subtle. That being said, there is something to be admired in Desensitised’s longetivity and adherence to their perceived niche, and I hope to hear more from them in the years to come.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Jackal blaster
This debut demo release from Desensitised is a typical death grind project. Everything is super fast and grinding, the barking vocals are rabid and intense, and the overall projection of the band is quite adequate. For a beginning output, Desensitised come through with competancy, yet without anything that stands out in the forefront, as the songs fail to maintain individualism. Instead, Desensitised join the ranks of acts like Malignant Tumour, Squash Bowels, Inhume, and Rotting Flesh in producing a full-on grind death band that is distinctly traditional and without heavy handed political trappings. Better artwork and a longer recording will certainly yield great results with the legions of grindcore fans who demand extreme, yet conservative grindcore. Desensitised should be sought for those who follow pure grind labels such as Extremist Records, Lofty Storm, etc. They may not be as extremely blasting as Nasum, or liberal and original like Agoraphobic Nosebleed, but Desensitised still could maintain vast interest within the larger conservative death metal constituency.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Noizy Asyleum
Desentised from Netherlands plays a death/grind very fast and loud. Growms are cut and deep such as riffs. Well that has nothing really exeptionnal, but that's ok for me. The production is well for an underground production. Only one thing to reproach is that there are 7 tracks a total lenght of 16:35 and there are not enought contrast between all tracks.. Good starts, let s see what they keep for the future.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Gothcore
Desensitised is een Nederlandse death-grind kwartet bestaande uit drie heren en één dame. De oorsprong van de band gaat terug naar 1994, toen nog onder de naam Catafalque. In 1998 kwam men, na een noodgedwongen tussenstop door line-up wisselingen, weer bij elkaar en veranderde men de naam vorig jaar in Desensitised. De muziek kenmerkt zich door compromisloze ritmes waar een lekkere groove in schuilgaat die ervoor zorgt dat de muziek goed in het gehoor ligt. In de teksten stelt men zich maatschappij-kritisch op. Zo maakt men zich zorgen over kloon-praktijken en zelfingenomen politici die denken zich van alles en nog wat te kunnen veroorloven zonder daarvoor verantwoording over te hoeven afleggen. De woede die uit de teksten spreekt wordt kracht bijgezet door een modern en fris geluid waardoor Desensitised met deze minicd een streepje voor heeft op de concurrentie. Een aanwinst voor de Nederlandse scene.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Aversionline
This is some relatively straightforward death/thrash from The Netherlands. It's nothing new, really. It's not awful, though. It's actually better than I was expecting considering the fact that the label name is quite possibly the dumbest label name I've ever seen and the presentation isn't very professional. From a writing standpoint it's more towards a heavier version of 80's thrash with vocals that sound like a weaker combination of Tomas Lindberg and Pete Helmkamp, with some deeper growls on occasion. Everything is moderately paced and the songs are all under three minutes, which keeps things moving, but it's still a little bit boring due to a lack of any real variety and a lack of tempo changes. There's potential for sure, but when they can't really hold your interest for just over 15 minutes… some work needs to be done. The production is actually pretty good except for the drums, which are too loud and way too rigid. This is especially problematic because the beats are all really simple (almost annoyingly so), which detracts from the riffing quite a bit. But the guitars have a nice texture, the bass is audible, and the vocals are well mixed in with the music. I'd probably clean up the guitar tone ever so slightly, but aside from the rigidity of the percussion they're on the right track. The layout is… not good. The typeface is really not working out, it's too blocky and looks like it should be used by a band that sings about "Star Trek" or something. The imagery? Very blurry images of skulls and fire. Yep. Skulls and fire. Pretty uncommon, wouldn't you say? I wouldn't be surprised if they got this picture off of the internet and blurred it after upping the resolution. Regardless, it's not a good looking album cover, sorry. The lyrics are horrendously bad. Funny, but horrendously bad. I say funny because there are points where they try to take a socially relevant topic and express their views on it in the form of a Cannibal Corpse-esque gore story. Take, for example, their stance on the human cloning argument, as expressed in "Miscloned": "So damn cocky, narcissistic, You think the world can't do without you, Want to play god and fool nature, But creation will take revenge, Frozen genes got mixed up with a rat's DNA, In her womb it starts to grow, chewing her from inside, As he fucks pregnant slut the beast gnaws at his cock, Festering in her cunt, bites its way through her flesh…" Get the fuck out of here with that shit. If you feel so strongly about the topic, why not write an intelligent set of lyrics about it, instead of this fourth-rate gory rehash? They've got potential in that department, too. Sure they deal with anti-christian topics, war, the annihilation of the human race, and political conspiracies (all generic topics), but some of the other content isn't as bad, so if they'd shed the bullshit and put some more thought into it they might just pull off something worthwhile. Other than that my main advice for these guys would be to tighten up the performance a bit, focus more on the energetic thrash riffing, and add a bit more diversity in the guitar department. Then I think they'd be able to come up with something that would be right up my alley.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Metalcore fanzine
Decent death metal with hints of grind to it. The band does not sound like any one band and the vocals and production are strong. The muisc is both fast and slow at times. The band go into the old Entombed style at times, which is not such a bad thing. I look forward to hearing more
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Battlezine
Formed in 1994, as Catafalque, they released the debut demo “Your Final Ride” in 1995 and due line up problems they stop for a while, returning in 1998. The name changed to Desensitised in 2001. The band line up is: Susan Gerl -guitars/vocals, Steven Vaasen -vocals, Rutger Noy -drums and Raets -bass. The MCD of Dutch Desensitised contain 7 tracks of pure grinding Death Metal, well structured and variated. Their music is really agressive and brutal, with blast beats, razzoring guitar riffs and grunt/raspy vocals (totally chaotic). As occur with grind bands, the songs are short, the whole album have 16 minutes. Their devastation will molest you!!! In 2002, Desensitised done new line up changes, Rutger left the band and was replaced by Rik, former drummer of Sectarian (RIP), and the bassplayer Mark Raets (who just helped the band out with the recordings) was replaced by Jeroen Gelissen, another ex-Sectarian member.
Score: 8 out of 10
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Eternal Frost Webzine
Despite how hard DESENSITISED try to be mainly grind-oriented, the end result is a somewhat original, gritty death metal MCD that has appeal to all ends of the extreme metal spectrum. It's weird to hear such a band incorporate actual melodies into their onslaught, and there's no other group in particular that this reminds me of. Folks who hate pitch shifters and vocal filters need not apply, but to the rest of you, these Europeans deserve your ears for a while.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Schwermetall
Den ganz knallharten Untergrundfetischisten werden Desensitised aus Holland schon unter dem Namen Catafalque bekannt sein. Den meisten wird es aber so gehen wie mir und die Band erst jetzt kennen lernen. Eigentlich kein schlechter Zeitpunkt, denn mit ihrer MCD liefern Desensitised erstmals auf CD konservierte Musik. Wenn man sich den Beginn des ersten Songs reinzieht, wird man an irgendwelches Grindcore-Gemetzel erinnert, denn ohne grosse Struktur hämmert die Band einfach mal drauflos. Nicht gerade, das was sich ein Untergrundverwöhnter Schreiber wünscht. Doch es wird besser: Death Metal lastigere Riffs und strukturierte Teile gibts noch im ersten Lied zu hören. Allerdings ist das ganze ziemlich bassbetont, was zu einem Wechselbad zwischen zu dumpf und doch groovig. Je mehr sich Desensitised dem Death Metal nähern, desto mehr kann ich mit den Songs anfangen. So zeigen Songs wie "Torchure" trotz relativ einfachen Songstrukturen mehr emotionale Wirkungen, auch weil nicht mehr einfach gemetzelt wird, sondern auf etwas mehr Mitbangqualität geachtet wird. Trotzdem stören mich hier wieder diese Agroattacken, die eher chaotisch als pur aggressiv daherkommen. Wiederum andere Songs sind zwar beim ersten oder zweiten Durchlauf noch ziemlich interessant, jedoch entwickeln sich kaum Langzeitwirkungen. Einen besten Song kann ich keinen besten Song ausfindig machen. Es ist kein Song, bei dem ich sagen kann, dass er mir vorbehaltlos gefällt. Meistens gibt es einzelne Lichtblicke, wie die langsameren Teile von "Hidden in the Ground". Im gleichen Song gibt es aber auch Teile mit denen ich überhaupt nichts anfangen kann, weil sehr viel eintönig wirkt und die gut gesungenen Vocals nicht viel daran ändern können. Die Produktion ist verhältnismässig aber recht differenziert, trotzdem kann ich die CD nicht wirklich empfehlen. Auf alle Fälle solltet ihr zuerst einen der sieben Songs anhören, wenn ihr die Möglichkeit habt und wenn ihr etwas mehr als ich mit corelastigem Death Metal à la Napalm Death angereichert mit schwereren Passagen anfangen könnt, könnte euch Desensitised sogar gefallen.
Score: 3.5 out of 6
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Still online
Without any intro or sample the band overwhelmed me emmediatly with their brutal death/grind. 17 minutes or 7 songs are they attacking my ears without any second of rust or sample. The music is played midtempo till fast with a lot of melodies and rhythms. The vocals are deep growlings and deathscreams. The guitars have a very dirty sound. The songs sound sometimes a bit chaotic and isn't played that tight too. I have no info paper, or other info about the band, so I don't know if they want it that way or not. The deep grinding and growlings parts of the tracks are done very well. It grooves and rocks well, so let's check it out.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Xtreem music
This band supossedly started behind the name of CATAFALQUE in 1994, they released a demo called "Your Final Ride" in 1995, and changed their name to DESENSITISED in 2001 and finally they put out this debut "Thriving On Carnage" Mcd this year. The seven tunes contained on this Mcd are played in a simple, chaotic and without compassion way, I can notice some Punk and Crust influences, the same that a band like IMPALED NAZARENE ("Latex Cult" era) could have, then you have some BLASPHEMY influences when they do the chaotic and grinding blasts, put all this in a Grind and typical European Death Metal context and you have it (I name GRAVE, NAPALM DEATH o AGATHOCLES to give you more clues). I will not describe them like excellent musicians because the stuff does not require any kind of technicisms and I don't think they wanted to play something complicated. The voice is a guttural one but they use one screaming voice very often. The sound also is the good one for this kind of bands, I think if you understood what i wanted to say with the comparisons done on this review you will adore this stuff because it's destined to very specified people.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Into obscurity
Desensitised play grindcore inspired death metal and hail from The Netherlands. I'm not typically a fan of this music, but I can't say that Desensitised do it particularly bad. There are some elements I don't like during "Thriving on Carnage." For one, the vocals seem to be aided heavily by electronics like pitch shifters and whatnot. While this is OK to do to accentuate certain things, Desensitised abuse the machines. Also, I think the album sounds a bit overproduced, if that's possible. The guitars are very compressed, where you typically hear a really raw sound with bands like this. And I think the latter is really how this style of music should sound. That's just me though. On the positive side, their songwriting and guitar riffing are killer. The entire album is brutal as shit and doesn't really let up for a minute! "Thriving on Carnage" sort of plays out with little climax or eye-raising parts. It's good as brutal background music, but if you're looking content, or picking this over with a fine toothed comb (which is my job.. after all, I'm a reviewer), then this is mediocre at best.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Pull the chain
DESENSITISED was formed back in 1994 and released under their previous monicker CATAFALQUE a first demo titled « Your final ride ». After a continuous line-up change, the band decided in the year 2001 to change their name into DESENSITISED. This « Thriving on carnage » is the band’s first release under the new monicker and is distributed through the dutch Bleedin’ Hemorroid Recs. DESENSITISED plays cool grind death metal… brutal but strangely not particularly fast paced. Tracks as «Flock» , «Masochistic masculinity» or «Sacred slaughter» mainly consist of furious blastbeats, repetitive (and still enjoyable) rhythmic guitar lines and growly screamy vocal works but also impose a lot of slower more technical moments. Unlike most of the grind death releases, « Thriving on carnage » has enough variety and diversity to keep you interested through the whole album.
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Obscura
Who would await such an event that group of three guys and one woman will spit out such a great devoted extreme death metal with grind core influences. It´s very nice surprise which was called CATAFALQUE until 2001. In 1995 they released demo called „Your Final Ride“. I don´t know it but I like stuff which is on MCD „Thriving On Carnage“. For sure they play more then average metal. Death metal methods, fine breaks, main vocalist Steven is supported by Susan who plays there the guitar and who is the only one who stays in this group since their foundation in 1994. In spring 2002 Rutger who played drumms on this MCD decided to leave and they renewed their all line-up. So it seems it can be called like „Susan and her boys“ bacause she is the only one who is faithful to this band and her deathmetal vocal is really compareable with a lot of corpsegrinders. Await seven killer songs of brutal death/grind from the Netherlands which will easily jump into your head. I haven´t got anything else to say, this is for sure very hopeful band with woman´s leading!
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Review of 'Thriving on carnage' by Mordor Magazine
Die Vierköpfige Band kommt aus den Niederlanden. Gespielt wird sehr Brutaler Death Metal der mit einem rechten Grind Einfluss auf der Matte steht. Besonders gefällt mir bei der Band die Gitarristin! Sieht man leider viel zu selten....... Aber wollen wir uns doch mal der Musik der Band widmen. DESENSITISED hören sich recht Krank an, die Gitarrenriffs sind nicht sehr technisch, haben dafür einen recht netten groove. Die Gitarren bewegen sich meist im mittleren Tempobereich. Für die Geschwindigkeit bei DESENSITISED ist definitiv der Drummer zuständig. Er spielt sich auf den sieben Songs auch wirklich den Arsch ab und kann mit fette Doublebass und schnelle Blast Attacken überzeugen. Richtig krass wird es aber erst wenn der Gesang einsetzt. Dieser ist tief, sehr tief und er Sänger schreit wutentfesselt ins Mikro. Aber noch nicht genug, den Passagen weise wird sogar zu zweit ins Mikro gebrüllt. ACHTUNG! Es besteht Gefahr das die Boxen den Geist aufgeben!!! Soundtechnisch ist die CD recht gut gelungen, vielleicht hätte der Bass und die Bassdrum noch etwas lauter sein dürfen, aber was solls. Die Aufmachung der CD ist auch äusserlich Professionell, schönes Booklet mit Texten etc.
Score: 8 out of 10
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Reviews of the promo
Review of the promo by Xtreem music
DESENSISTISED is a band from Holland that released this promo CD a couple months ago. Their style is grindy Death Metal with some variation and two types of voices: One guttural and another one more into the screamy/aggressive type. You can’t make a good idea of all what the band have to offer as the running time for this CD is just of 7 minutes, but I can tell you that they play very well. It sounded to me a bit to bands like GROINCHURN, some AGATHOCLES and MASTIC SCUM. If you think of all these bands, maybe you’ll make an idea of their style. They mix fast parts with others that are more mid tempo and even some crusty rhythms here and there. Lets see if they release some newer stuff in the future and we can check more music by this band. Anyway, I can recommend this promo as it’s well done and perfectly executed. If you like Death with some Grind, it’s worth to check it out!
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Review of the promo by Zware metalen.com
Desensitised is een brute death/grind band uit Eindhoven. In 1994 opgericht door Jozef (bass/vocals), Susan (guitars/vocals) en Rutger (drums/vocals) als Catafalque, heeft deze band de nodige line-up wisselingen al achter de rug. De huidige line-up is ook erg dunnetje aangezien drummer Rutger en bassist Mark allebei uit de band zijn gestapt. De resterende leden zijn nu Steven op zang en Susan op gitaar.
De promo die ik kreeg is een voorproefje op de CD "Thriving On Carnage" die ze onlangs hebben opgenomen. Op deze promo staan de volgende drie nummers:
1- Flock
2- Masochistic Masculinity
3- Miscloned
De nummers zijn inderdaad bruut, niet superorigineel, maar wel bruut. De zanger heeft een aparte stem, beetje meer metalcore stijl. De grunts echter vallen me een beetje tegen, ze missen een beetje dat lekkere volle geluid. Het gitaarwerk zorgt in de snelle stukken zekers voor het beter pitwerk, maar als het tempo eruit gaat vind ik de nummers een beetje inzakken. Voor de liefhebbers van het genre is de vollidge cd er zeker één om te gaan beluisteren.
De band zit op dit moment nog zonder drummer en zonder bassist (waar heb ik die problemen eerder gehoord ?), dus als je je geroepen voelt om ze te gaan versterken, bezoek hun internetsite even: http://listen.to/desensitised
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Review of the promo by Death metal webzine
Originality: 6
Technique: 7
Vocals/Lyrics: 6,5
Production: 7
Remarks: This cd from the Dutch band with their tongbreaking name Desensitised, claim to be Death Metal but they sound a bit "hardcorish". The technique and the production are very good for a debut-cd.
Score: 65 out of 100
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Review of the promo by Vates Noctis
Die 1994 gegründete Formation Desensitised aus den Niederlanden hat sich voll und ganz dem Death/Grind verschrieben. Auf dieser 3 Track Promo CD bekomme ich schon mal einen Vorgeschmack auf die demnächst erscheinende Full length CD. Diese 3 Songs haben es wirklich in sich. Als alter Liebhaber von heftigem Death/Grind habe ich meine wahre Freude an den 3 Songs die mich sofort nach mehr Verlangen lässt. Mit absolutem Bombensound überollen dich die 3 Songs mit der Wucht eines ICE und die mächtigen Riffmassaker geben dir endgültig den Rest ebenso wie die schleppenden Passagen. Also im großen und ganzen sehr abwechslungsreich das Ganze und ich hoffe ich bekomme bald mehr zu hören.
Score: 8 out of 10
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Review of the promo by Nocturnal hall
Als Vorgeschmack zu ihrem aktuellen Debüt „Thriving on carnage“ ließen mir die niederländischen Grindcruster DESENSITISED ihre Vorabpromo zukommen und was ich darauf zu hören bekam, überzeugte mich davon, dass es wieder an der Zeit sei, mein Gehirn über die Wand zu verteilen… So könnten PUNGENT STENCH heute klingen, roher, ungeschliffener Grindcore á la DEAD INFECTION, DEFECATION, AGATHOCLES oder auch MALIGNANT TUMOR vermischt sich hier mit Einflüssen von RIGHTEOUS PIGS oder auch IMPULSE MANSLAUGHTER – und das unterstützt von einer ungeschliffenen aber dennoch hammerharten Produktion. Langsame, groovige Parts, die fallweise auch in den Doom-Bereich abgleiten (man erinnere sich an die göttlichen WINTER…) treten in perfekte Symbiose mit schnellen Blasts und genialen, schweren, wuchtigen Breaks der Marke alte NAPALM DEATH oder auch NASUM… Auch vokaltechnisch bieten DESENSITISED abwechslungsreichen Grindcrust, von tiefsten Grunzern über Röchelorgien bis zu NASUM-ähnlichem Gekreische ist hier alles vertreten – genialst, nur mein Hirn müsst ich langsam wieder zusammenklauben gehen… Wenn die Niederländer die Genialität der drei hier vertretenen Tracks auf dem Debüt durchhalten, dann ist mein Kollaps auf jeden Fall vorprogrammiert, scheiße sind die genial!
Fazit: Die neue Hoffnung für Grindcrust
Score: 5 out of 5
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Review of the promo by Vampire magazine
A promo of the band formerly known as Catafalque. I know that they've recorded 7 tracks in total but if I remember correctly, the released this 3-track promo to hopefully attract some attention of the labels. Well, what kind of metal do Desensitised (who the hell came up with the new name?!) play? Some brutal death/grind is being poured over you when you push the start button of your CD-player. The songs are quite short but are long enough to infest your brain. The band isn't really original but it's hard to come up with a band that they remind me. Although Carcass are an obvious influence. I like the mid-paced parts of "Flock", good for some old-fashioned moshing. "Miscloned" starts mid-paced and explodes via a Hypocrisy-kinda part to an faster pace. This promo is also the debut for singer Steven and he does a pretty fine job although I don't really like the pitch shifter vocals that are sometimes used. All in all a decent release that should satisfy the death/grind freaks out there. But why the fuck only 3 songs god-damn-it?!
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Review of the promo by Braindead
Watch out for Desensitised! It's a really excellent band from the Netherlands, formed by ex-Catafalque members. It can be described as extreme death metal... their style is catchy and very original. I think the Carcass influence (Necroticism period) is very obvious. The songs always have great guitar riffs and well-rounded structures, it always stays catchy and quite basic. The band has a sense of well-dosed brutality that reminds Carcass alot. Vocals are alot like Jeff Walker's (Carcass): mid-high manic screams, and backing vocals are occasionally pitch-shifted to great effect! Desensitised is a pretty clever band and just purely excellent metal! This is only a promo cd but these 3 tracks should be released as a mcd soon, with 3 additional tracks. Definitely recommended band!
Score: 4 out of 5
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Review of the promo by Metallization
Op deze promo staan 3 van de 7 nummers van de nieuwe cd "Thriving on Carnage". De nummers geven een goed beeld van Desensitised. De band maakt extreme death metal met de nodige grindcore elementen. Desensitised zal geen prijs voor originaliteit winnen maar de nummers klinken lekker, zijn degelijk ingespeeld en hebben de nodige afwisseling. jammer alleen dat de nummers zo kort duren, na 6:20 is de cd al afgelopen. Het nummer "Miscloned" springt boven de andere 2 nummers uit, het heeft een aantal heerlijke riffs en klinkt behoorlijk dreigend. voor meer informatie over Desensitised en de nieuwe cd "Thriving on Carnage" kun je kijken op http://listen.to/desensitised
Score: 70 out of 100
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Review of the promo by Lords of metal
Lompe Death / Grind zoals dat een jaartje of wat terug zo floreerde hoor je niet zo vaak meer tegenwoordig in Nederland. Een uitzondering op de spreekwoordelijke regel is het Limburgse Desensitised. De band timmert sinds 1994 aan de weg onder de naam Catafalque middels een demo in 1995, maar als gevolg van een aantal line-up wisselingen maakt het gezelschap in 1998 een doorstart en veranderde men zeer onlangs van naam. Met deze naamsverandering kwam er ook een debuut cd waarvan er nu drie nummers door m’n speakers razen. Desensitised ziet zichzelf als een Death Metalband met Grindcore-invloeden. Ik zie het meer als een volbloed Death / Grind combinatie. Heerlijk lomp hakkende riffs zoals men ze ook wel bij bands zoals bijvoorbeeld Agathocles en Blood aantreft in combinatie met vette grunts, een redelijk helder geluid én het feit dat Desensitised ook wel van afwisseling gehoord heeft, maken dat de drie nummers op deze promo smaken naar meer!
Score: 75 out of 100
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Review of the promo by Wrox.net
Als erstes fällt mir auf, dass Desensitised eine holländische Band sind, wobei mir bei unseren flachen Nachbarn eigentlich immer erst Sinister oder Severe Torture in den Kopf schiessen und ich somit verdammt gute Musik aus den Niederlanden gewohnt bin. Auch Desensitised - die es mit diesem Namen erst seit September 2001 gibt, da sie vorher Catafalque hiessen - enttäuschen meine Erwartungen nicht. Auf der mir vorliegenden Promo CD sind zwar nur 3 der 7 Lieder der kommenden Debut-CD "Thriving On Carnage", doch sie lassen schon einmal erahnen auf welche Musik man sich freuen kann: kompromisslosen Death/Grind. Die Produktion ist sehr gut ausgefallen (De Studio, Asse) und auch das Songwriting ist ok. Schreihals Steven bringt die Vocals souverän rüber und diese werden noch durch Backing Vocals hervorragend ergänzt. So wie man es unter anderem eben beim Track "Miscloned" macht, der mir auch am besten gefällt, da Gitarristin Susan bei einem Zwischenteil grunzt was das Zeug hält. Respekt! Die Songs halten alle (naja, alle 3) ein durchgängig hohes Niveau und zeigen mir, dass ich mich schon auf die komplette Debut CD freuen kann. Was ich allerdings bei diesem kleinen Vorgeschmack etwas vermisse ist der richtige Knaller, ein Lied, das einem im Ohr hängen bleibt und man auch so schnell nicht wieder vergisst. Keine Frage, Desensitised machen gekonnt brutalen Death/Grind, der sich nirgendwo verstecken muss und ich sicher bin, dass auch Desensitised live die Lieder durchknüppeln, doch ein Höhepunkt fehlt noch. Aber vielleicht ist ja auf der kompletten "Thriving on Carnage", die in ein paar Monaten veröffentlicht wird, eben dieser Hammer, der mir die Socken auszieht, man darf auf alle Fälle gespannt sein.
Score: 70 out of 100
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Review of the promo by Nihilistic holocaust
What we have here is a release of the ex CATAFALQUE band that may be a bit familiar to those of you putrid readers who know a lot of all times underground stuffs. I remember I exchanged classical mails with them around 1998... In my ears what they play sounds influenced by BLOOD DUSTER (mostly for the drum sound that’s good but also for some blasting grind moments). To let you define in yer little metallized bound head what DESENSITISED plays, I could also quote NYCTOPHOBIC’s last CD, some old NAPALM DEATH for Crust parts and touches of old CARCASS for gory elements. For some mid placed and bizarre gory fun reasons they remind me of MUCUPURULENT and IMMURED (An old German Heavy goregrind band that released Demos and Eps around ‘96-‘97). There are melodic Death metal touches that could make think a bit of KADATH (GER)’s « Tales of gruesome fate » MCD and some more thrashing melodic aspects could make one fall into an old darkened remembrance of INCUBUS’s « Serpent temptation » CD (’94 rerelease). The production is good : powerfull and totally earable/ understandable. As a whole this 3 tracks MCD sounds OK, but it’s quite short ( 6 :18 minutes ) and I found nothing new or memorable that would make me listen to their stuffs more. They should releases a CD in the following months so if you like the bands mentionned before, DESENSITISED may be OK for you.
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Review of the promo by Martelgang MetalZine
Dat kan natuurlijk niet, hè? Al een slordige acht jaar bestaan, het podium gedeeld hebben met bands als Rebaelliun, Agathocles en Malignant Tumour, en dan nog geen geluidsdrager op je naam hebben staan (een demootje in 1995 daargelaten). Gelukkig komt binnenkort verandering in die situatie, want het Eindhovense Desensitised (voorheen Catafalque) heeft een zeven nummers tellende cd opgenomen die de titel 'Thriving on Carnage' zal gaan dragen. Vanwege de nodige tegenslagen (zie ook het interview in Martelgang) duurt het nog even voor dat debuutalbum aan de gretige vingers van de massa wordt toevertrouwd, dus we zullen het voorlopig met deze promo moeten doen. Die bevat drie nummers en geeft kort - Wat heet! Zes minuten en twintig seconden om precies te zijn! - maar krachtig weer waar de band voor staat. De boodschap is dan ook duidelijk en behoeft niet al te veel bijvoeglijke naamwoorden: Desensitised handelt in het betere beukwerk. Versterkers aan en rammen met die handel. Eerlijke Death Metal met kloten zo groot als struisvogeleieren, en hier en daar een snufje Grindcore. De hoekige gitaarriffs, vette baslijnen, rauwe grunts en het meestal tamelijk hoge tempo doen je snakken naar het volledige album. Enough said. Meer info: listen.to/desensitised.
Score: 80 out of 100
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Review of the promo by Deathgrind Webzine
Very cool death/grind band here. First, they are from Netherlands and they have a female guitarist (good work Susan!). Their style is totally catchy and extreme. With quite simple and catchy death metal riffs (but sometimes near grind riffs) and well-done song structures. Two types of vocals here: mid-pitched evil screams (are very much like the vocals of Jeff Walker from Carcass) and killer some backing deep pitch-shifted growls. Yes, Carcass feel (death/grind years) is present here alot. Very good influence, but of course, they have their own good sound and extreme style. Really fat sound production, clear and very death-metallish. Drums have a highly great sound, they are very powerful and the drummer did a great work. This CD contains only three tracks of seven from their upcoming in july full-length debut CD called "Thriving On Carnage", so, watch out and be sure this CD shall have highly interested stuff. Desensitised is really one of the few death metal bands I really liked. Just listen them
Score: 7 out of 10
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Review of the promo by Collateral Damage Webzine
Never heard of this lot before, nice though. Its basically three tracks long and goes like this: track one reminds me of Scalplock but crustier, its fucking cool though, like a groovy crustcore band who really know what theyre doing. The second track is a little more blast ridden and has some neat harmonics here and there, and another really fucking cool chugging groove bit. The last track on this starts with something that reminds me of Crowbar crossed with Earth Crisis but soon takes off on another blast fest. Overall, nice and a worthy addition to all crust/ grind fans collections, I know ill be checking out their first release!
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Review of the promo by Deadtide
The Netherlands' Desensitised plays three songs in just over 6 minutes on this promotional disc. Attacking the listener with a rabid grind assault that contains more thrash sensibility than Napalm Death and more diversity than Swedish crust/punk band Skitsystem, the songs are actually quite enjoyable. Each one sports just enough groove to stay interesting, while the drums and the vocals do the rest. Though Desensitised are playing relatively formulaic grind/thrash/crust, with a full length album and hopefully better production, they'll be worth an honest chance.
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Review of the promo by Deluge Webzine
Amidst the likes of Sinister and Inhumate, a new breed of death-wielding diabolos has arrived. The four-piece death squad known as Desensitised is but one of these bands, but their approach to the genre proves to be a little off the beaten path. Originally formed in 1994, the Eindhoven-based quartet has spent a good amount of time playing gigs throughout Western Europe, sharing bills with such noteworthy acts as Agathocles, Dead Infection, and Rebaelliun. Despite repeated difficulties in maintaining a stable line-up, Desensitised is now entering their eighth year as a band, and a full length CD entitled Thriving On The Carnage is in the works. The three songs on this promo CD will also appear on that album, and from the looks of things, I’m definitely interested in hearing what else they have to offer. The music here is of a very direct style, which merges the “less is more” mentality of Jungle Rot with a melodic edge that somehow fuses classic hardcore riffs with the “tunefulness” of the early death metal pioneers, such as Morgoth and Obituary. While none of these songs is particularly technical, the tempos are skillfully arranged to maximize their punch. Desensitised will likely be releasing their debut any day now, so head on over to http://listen.to/desensitised for more info.
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Review of the promo by Bloody Orgasm
This band that was born in 1994 has released their CD debut in September 2001. But I don't know what it is in the album because they just sent me the promo CD that just contains 3 songs with duration for only 6 minutes and 20 seconds. From that short time I can say that they play death brutal with strong grindcore touch and little crusty touch in their music. They perform 3 vocal types, hatred throat, middle grunting and low growling. The hard guitar sound reminds me of goregrind bands. Rhythms that are sometimes fast and sometimes slow make the songs are not monotonous. Too bad the vocal is dominated by hatred throat , just like hardcore bands. I personally don't like it too much. Anyway, they are a good band with a good sound recording. I think I will try to get their album.
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