Disastrous Murmur - Rhapsodies in Red (1992)

Another of the earlier Austrian death metal acts alongside Pungent Stench, I remember Disastrous Murmur largely for their hilarious, distinct band moniker as well as the gruesome and cheesy cover art on Rhapsodies in Red, their debut. These guys had a sound that, at the time, I found very UN-European. Sure, there were some parallels in that scene, like the earlier Atrocity records, but for the most part the sound developed here reminds me a little of Cannibal Corpse or Malevolent Creation evolving on a slightly separate path. Certainly more Florida or New York than Sweden, Finland, Holland or England. It's chuggy, ugly, and walks that borderline between the OSDM and brutality emerging through the 90s, with a guitar tone that sounds quite thrashy and choppy, and a few riffs to match, definitely giving off a slightly Eaten Back to Life vibe though I don't really think the bands honestly sound that close together.

This is very agile stuff with a lot of shifting tempos and gory, guttural vocals, but I find that the mix on this one has always detracted for me. In the way a lot of very archaic death metal records did, especially in the first half of the 90s. The guitar is sometimes too crunchy for its own good, and rarely is spitting out riff progressions that stick in my memory. The drum performance is good, but the levels feel off, with the kicks drowning out other stuff, making the guitars seem a little thinner. Also, while the vocals definitely have a pretty extreme sound, they weren't very distinct, just bludgeoning along with the dexterity of the death/thrashing rhythms and not leaving much more of an impression beyond their brutality. The bass here is audible, kind of bouncy and fat and blends in a lot with the lower drums, but I know there's always been a market for this style...I think Malignancy is an example where they took something similar to this and got a lot further with the creativity and songwriting.

I don't mean to sound totally down on this, because it definitely has some effort and intensity behind it and feels like a record that would have been more impressive for me had I been listening to it back when I first encountered Suffocation, Deicide, etc. Sometimes they get a rhythm guitar going which reminds me a bit of Death, Obituary or Pestilence and I dig those, but they will usually change it up too quickly before it can settle in. The occasional keyboards are kind of cool but they sometimes feel too obscure in the mix, except the intro to "Into the Dungeon" which rules. The lyrics are appropriately gross for the image that the band was conveying, and probably on the more shocking side for 1992, but musically this is an album I have to listen to more for its bludgeoning than the music value. It often sounds calamitous as if the young band was just trying to force rhythm after rhythm down your throat, and it just doesn't always stick the landing. But for 1992, it gets some lenience and is by no means bad.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://disastrousmurmur.bandcamp.com/