Headmeat - Mass Sociogenic Illness CD Review

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2005-12-16 : Nuyt : Link
A band needs to evolve to have success. With that thought Meetjesland death metal act Headmeat started recording their, soon to be released, new album, entitled ‘Mass Sociogenic Illness’. Headmeat had already proven to know how to evolve with the ‘Destructive Entitlement’ MCD, their first release on Killjoy’s Baphomet Records, but this time they take it a step further. In the 2003 they recruited a new member, Nieke, who played keyboard. He brought some unconventional keys into Headmeat’s brutal death/grind which now can be witnessed on the new album. It takes a few times listening before you get used to the keys but when you did you’ll notice the difference between Headmeat and a standard deathmetal band. Most people will think that keys will make deathmetal sound more cheesy, that it’ll reduce the brutality but it actually adds something to the music, it gives it a more sinister and darker touch. ‘Mass Sociogenic Illness’ has eight tracks, but not all tracks are similar, in some of them you can still clearly hear the grindcore roots from this band (“Diggin’ Up Some Stiffs” for example). Overall is this album another positive note in our Belgian metal scene, a record that adds something to a genre, without losing roots or brutality. By the way, there’s also a very nice video clip from “Perfect Murder Sequence” added to this album, which is worth checking out, so you do that!


83/100
Reviewed by Stino
2005-12-16 : Nuyt : Link
Belgium's underground death metal scene is steadily on the rise. It must have been since Aborted's second album "Engineering the Dead" that I've been thoroughly impressed by a record from a Belgian death metal act. Headmeat rose to the occasion and delivered just that. 'Burning Dogma' opens the record and after a concise blast section Headmeat goes into a full-on doom section with eerie synthesizers to boot. Morbid Angel's "Altars Of Madness" album instantly came to mind with some Gojira-like technical riffs to top things off - really, it's that good. 'Angels vs Insects' deepens out the Morbid Angel influence some more with ghostly synthesizers giving the whole a '70s exploitation horror feel. 'Consumed By Fire' reeks of classic Autopsy from the opening riff, the mid section breathes modern Necrophagia. 'Diggin' Up Some Stiffs' samples Peter Jackson's seminal splatter classic "Braindead" in the most original way I've heard in a long time. Somehow this track reminds me a bit of early Death. 'Boern' Weelei' once again combines monstrous Morbid Angel-like riffs with Gojira-like dynamics. Mid-way the track rolls (unexpected, but wholly effective) into a stoner rock section with Jim Morrison like vocals. 'Perfect Murder Sequence' starts off a bit industrial tinged before going into another start/stop assault of technical riffs and a hilarious sample from "Meet the Feebles". Halfway in the track feels as if culled from Cradle Of Filth's early albums. Complete with atmospheric synthesizers and whispered vocals. 'Randomly Raped' feels like classic Gorefest with its simple riffs put in a memorable structure. Overall, I'm very impressed by the way Headmeat combines horror synthesizers with influences of doom, stoner and grind. Do yourself a favor and pick this album up.
2005-12-16 : Nuyt : Link
It took the Headmeat poopers quite some time to get their “Mass sociogenic illness” over here. When we rest with the fact Baphomet Records’ Killjoy has sunk to the ocean’s bottom during the last world wide tsunami, the nicely looking digipack finally ends up in my mailbox.

Before I could even push the gay button the boorish “Burning dogma” fires off the first warning shot. Headmeat’s death metal isn’t the most common breed, positively meant. The Belgian band concentrates the most on Nieke’s samples. All stuffed in a filthy hot death metal sausage with some weird spices. The link with Necrophagia would be too obvious and way too over-simplified, but “Mass sociogenic illness” got some of the good old dirty Autopsy feeling and a typical Morbid Angel touch. It has something ghastly and gloomy. They keyboards are used in a more annoying way, but when perfectly timed they create something original. It reminds me a bit of Sigh’s avant-garde horror sounds. Actually not only horror… Hello Tarantino, hello “Unborn & Malformed”. My personal highlight on “Mass sociogenic illness” is “Perfect Murder Sequence”. Wunderbar! The song is also featured as a multimedia low budget video where Pui and co show off their pimped Opel rides. Headmeat’s strange pipi and kaka humour can be found in “Boern’ Weelei” where old school grunt-hole Nuyt explains us the finest art of cultivation.

Headmeat is just totally wrong… They support the wrong soccer teams, they like the wrong cars, they write for the wrong magazines and the list goes on and on... It’s the kind of mass illness that simply grows in their genes. But I like it… Jawohl!
2005-10-03 : PM : Link
They come from Belgium, they like beer (who doesn’t?) and are named after a tasty local pig snack Uuflacke in the original Flemmish dontchano. The porcine delicacy consists of boiled pig heads, which apparently are delightful with mustard. This put me in mind of the headcheese mentioned often in both versions of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is about right coz these anti Tintins have death and perversion firmly in mind.
When I first approached this CD I made the mistake of reading the lyric sheet. Taken out of context the lyrics remind me of a section on the Six Feet Under website forum (the band
not the “Oh so clever“ HBO show) . On a thread entitled “Your gore lyrics” 14 year old virgins (and quite probably older ones) wax lyrical about the abuse and dismemberment of usually female victims. Terrible rhymes and little or no reason. Much of Mass Sociogenic Illness would sit alongside this sub Cannibal Corpse fare. IF and that is a huge bastard IF, the music wasn’t so damn good!
Ok, so it is reminiscent of CC and Morbid Angel , but in a good way. Chunky, chunky pools of vomit that taste good on the way up. Track 4 “Diggin’ up Some Stiffs”, whilst having some ridiculous lyrics – “Sleeping with her mug, Dreaming about yesterdays shed” ??????!!!! What!!!! Mugs? Shed???!!! Is this Arthur Fowlers Death Metal paeon to Pauline from beyond – does serve up a twin assault of Mortician style bass attack and a shredding guitar line.
There is even a track on the album in Flemmish and it sounds pretty good. No Tintin falsetto voice here. The random electronic noises used in it annoyed me though- very out of place and broke up the tempo of the choon.
However this seems to set up a discordant theme. Where it was once chugging along in a drooling but happy way “Perfect Murder Sequence” stops and starts like a Relapse records special. It changes the overall feel of the CD but in my opinion it works a treat.. In a genre that has even other metallers opining that it “all sounds the same” , Headmeat have injected some nice angular bits into the blood soaked chum.
Randomly Raped is as base and puerile as it sounds relying on , frankly, shit lyrics and cliched riffs with some of the worst sounding drums this side of St Anger “ Yes , live with it I abused your worm infested cunt, So don’t move bitch while I roll myself a blunt” !!! ?????!!! Oh dear. Can you hear Easy E spinning in his grave?
Headmeat's latest opus is definately worth a punt. It may be a little hit and miss but when it hits it is bludgeoning and misses are still pretty good. (Lyrics not withstanding – but when was DM ever about literary prose eh Matt?)
Closer “Unborn and Malformed” is a shredding example of proper old skool death metal I tell thee- there is a beatdown though, I do wish they wouldn’t. I’d love to see this lot live.
www.headmeat.com