Pathology Stench

Gluttony

(c)(p)1997 Immortal Souls Productions

Review by Neil St.Laurent

Thanks to Immortal Souls for the CD

It appears as though extreme bands are beginning to run out of decent available names; what exactly is a pathology stench?

Even though I'm a big fan of death metal, it is getting harder and harder to be impressed by the vast number of death bands that are out there, especially those leaning towards the old school teachings. Too much of it is unoriginal lifeless crap. Fortunately with Pathology Stench's "Gluttony" I can find originality and a generally energetic sound.

One thing that immediately stands out on "Gluttony" is a very clean production. Each track maintains its own richness while at the same time blending to the overall music. I often find myself complaining about the mixing of an album, but not in this case; the levels of each track in the mix do vary quite a bit, but always in a manner to add to the richness of the sound, not to detract from it. The credits don't mention an engineer or producer, so we can assume that at least one of the band members has some impressive talent in this area.

The music for the most part hinges on the guitarwork of Lubo. While no individual riff is very complex, the song structure is achieved by the integration of several riffs and their transitions. The energy of the sound comes directly from the guitars. It is kind of hard to describe but each guitar riff contains its own driving force and when combined together the effect is very extreme. There is a certain degree of technical mastery that has to be admired in guitar fare.

While the hinge of the music may be the guitars, the other elements are most certainly not to be left out. Indeed in "I Believe Indians" there is a brilliant tradeoff from guitar to bass in the flow. At times the guitar actually loses its power and is taken over by nothing over than the requisite death metal blast beats. While the very low end, occupied by the double bass and bass, doesn't have the opportunity to shine through, it maintains a very solid foundation for the music. Overall the music is very strong.

In the end it may really be the wonderful production job on "Gluttony" that makes the sound so appealing. With a strong focus on the guitars, and their level of energy, the mixing of all components provides a very tight recording that is technically pleasing. Immortal Souls Productions has a decent distribution channel, so Pathology Stench shouldn't be too hard to find, and you should definitely be looking.

Pathology Stench is:
Vlado - Drums
Báro - Vocals
Kuco - Bass
Lubo - Guitars

Contact:
c/o Báro Barancík
Tulská 16
974 01 Banská Bystrica
Slovakia

Voice: +421.88.300.54
Email: chromcik@bb.sanet.sk

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