CEREBRAL BORE

It is brutal death metal (BDM) with personality and compositional diversity; now that's a combo with potential to please those on both sides of the DM fence. It is what Scotland's CEREBRAL BORE does so well on "Maniacal Miscreation", an album originally in 2010 and reissued by Earache this year.

On the one hand "Maniacal Miscreation" contains plenty of what makes BDM "brutal," whether it is the slamming grooves or the blasting mayhem, although the mix is such that when the double-kicks launch the effect can be a little overpowering. On the other hand, it's also got the modern sensibilities of acts likes ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY, at least with regard to "Reign of Darkness". While some will stick with stubbornness to characterizing those modern elements as deathcore, it is really not accurate since the core qualities of "Maniacal Miscreation" show CEREBRAL BORE owing far more to groups like DYING FETUS and SUFFOCATION. Modernity or studio technology does nothing to change that. Then again, who really cares what it's called when it's this good?

However you choose to define the album, "Maniacal Miscreation" is chock full of penetrating, pit-raging tunes, and that includes a mastery of the changeup, opening track "Epileptic Strobe Entrapment" a case in point. The tune goes off like a bomb from the start, setting the tone for the entire album. When that first breakdown arrives it does so with shocking intensity, rivaled only by a section of up-tempo groove later on in the same song and during one particularly sinister segment of a furious number called "The Bald Cadaver". And yes, the members of CEREBRAL BORE aren't averse to dark humor, as you may have gathered from those titles, not to mention closer "24 Year Dungeon Party". Ouch.

If "Maniacal Miscreation" was nothing more than a collection of disparate parts joined together for the sake of technicality, then we'd not have much to discuss. There are plenty of technically-oriented death metal bands that have done just that, all of whom you've already forgotten about. The secret to CEREBRAL BORE's success has to do with an ability to write a multitude of hellacious parts — e.g. that ungodly descending riff on the title track and a slew of 'em in "Flesh Reflects the Madness" — and make them work in a way that results in the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In this case we aren't talking about melodic enhancements so much as we are track identity and immediacy of recognition. Take highlight "Entombed in Butchered Bodies" for example. The vocal patterns (ably delivered through the guttural growls and squeals of Som Pluijmers) are superbly written and when combined with moments that could almost be described as peppy what you end up with is a tune that just plain swings. Quite honestly, you can pick any of these eight tracks for discussion purposes and struggle to find a negative.

In the way of summation then, the memorable "moments" are many, but it is the totality of each song that makes this sucker move with such power and verve. Budding BDM acts looking to avoid getting lost in the herd should take careful notes when listening to this one. On "Maniacal Miscreation" CEREBRAL BORE shows 'em how it's done.