200 STAB WOUNDS

Five years into their fetid existence, 200 STAB WOUNDS are one of the most unremittingly horrible bands in death metal. The US scene has produced a startling number of nuclear-grade newcomers over the last few years, from every conceivable deathly subgenre, but when it comes to the art of shit-spraying obnoxiousness, the Cleveland four-piece are operating in a field of their own.

It was obvious from their last album — 2021 debut, "Slave To The Scalpel", re-released in 2023 — that they were hell-bent on nastiness. There was an evil swagger to the riffs, an on-the-brink-of-chaos intensity to grooves, and an assortment of slams, grinds and dirges that were as sick (in the real sense of the word) as they were incisive. "Manual Manic Procedures" sounds bigger, more cohesive and less untamable than its predecessor, but the overwhelming stench of violence, disgust and good, clean unpleasantness is enough to make a metalhead giddy. In truth, 200 STAB WOUNDS have become even more terrifying, while also sneaking in a few elements that one might describe as 'mature', if those songs didn't cheerfully betray the band's pitch-black sense of humor with titles like "Gross Abuse" and "Release The Stench". But fuck maturity. This is death metal, not jury service.

Nonetheless, the verdict is in, and 200 STAB WOUNDS have birthed a monster. "Manual Manic Procedures" lives up to the wince-inducing horrors of its artwork, and to its creators' burgeoning reputation. Released in advance of the full story, "Hands Of Eternity" is the band's most undeniable heavy-hitter yet. After a suitably spooky intro, the riffs start to pile up like bodies at a makeshift military morgue, first at a grim, slow pace, and then with mounting menace and a mid-paced destructiveness that owes plenty to old- and new-school thinking. Frontman Steve Buhl has a distinctive arsenal of growls, shrieks and gutturals, and he is punchier and more prominent here than on previous records. Meanwhile, his bandmates play every note with insane, breath-wrenching urgency.

200 STAB WOUNDS are thuggish, but their technical prowess is laudable too, and the combination of those two traits makes for a unique take on the current US death metal's scabrous instincts. The result is a remorseless show of strength, rendered in gruesome Technicolor. "Gross Abuse" is a neck-snapping jolt of a song, with multiple speeds colliding with waves of hideous discord; the title track is a glorious hybrid of ancient, Floridian death metal tropes and the Ohio crew's highly individual levels of unhinged viciousness; "Led To The Chamber/Liquified" nudges up the horror with unholy synths floating in a monstrous tsunami of hellish grandeur; "Ride The Flatline" dispenses with the nice stuff, and goes straight for the throat with a rusty hacksaw, spitting and churning with an acrid hostility not witnessed since Swedish cult cats INSISION's "Beneath The Folds Of Flesh" (other, more accessible comparisons may be available, but I like this one). This album is foul and repulsive, and horrible enough to turn 200 STAB WOUNDS into a big, blood-soaked deal.