Column

Sunday Old School: Avulsed

Throughout much of last year, the Sunday Old School column tried to look at bands from as many previously uncovered countries as possible, bringing the spotlight to groups from places such as Greece, Russia, Turkey and South Korea for the first time. This year we’ve been able to do this twice more by covering Salem from Israel and Bulldozer from Italy and now we make it a charm by heading to Spain for the first time to take a look at one of the country’s greatest contributions to extreme metal, Avulsed.

The seeds of Avulsed were sewn when vocalist, David Sánchez González, better known as Dave Rotten to fans, moved to the Spanish capital of Madrid following his military service in 1991. He was keen to play the music he loved, at a time when death metal was beginning to really take off and bands such as Obituary and Cannibal Corpse were making a name for themselves. He was joined at first by a guitarist known as, Javi "El Largo," before more members were recruited the next year, the same time that the collective settled on the moniker, Avulsed, though by this time, "El Largo" had left.

Avulsed explored different styles of metal through a series of demos including, "Embalmed in Blood," which was released in the Autumn of 1992, and "Deformed Beyond Belief," amongst other demos, tapes and split records. Eventually, they were snapped up to Repulse Records and in 1996, the group released their debut album, "Eminence in Putrescence." It was a very well received first effort, still highly thought of by fans today and showcased their penchant for writing songs with gory lyrics such as, "Ecstasy for Decayed Chunks" and "Bodily Ransack," as well as featuring a cover of a song by Baron Rojo, one of Spain’s most beloved heavy metal bands.

Following a very poorly received compilation of remixes entitled, "Cybergore," Avulsed got to work on their sophomore full length, which eventually surfaced in 1999 under the name, "Stabwound Orgasm." As the title suggests, it was another blood soaked affair, featuring graphic front cover art of two naked and beautiful women, mutilating themselves with large blades. It was another warmly received album, with fans pointing to the sheer brutality of the vocals, married to the melodic elements on display.

After recording covers of songs by their peers such as Sepultura and Carcass for four different tribute albums, which were eventually put together for the "Bloodcovered" EP in 2001, the band got to work on new, original material, which was released in 2003 on their third album, "Yearning for the Grotesque." It didn’t quite match the standards fans had come to expect from the first two albums, but nevertheless, it was still regarded generally as a decent record, continuing the group’s catchy variety of death metal with more unsettling song titles such as, "Wormeaten" and "Sick Sick Sex."

The success and growing reputation enjoyed by the band saw the first live DVD from the group, "Grotesque Live 2004," which was recorded in the Canary Islands, before a fourth full length studio album, "Gorespattered Suicide" was released in early 2005, featuring another front cover blend of extreme gore and attractive women. This record seemed to have reassured fans who were a little disappointed in "Yearning for the Grotesque" that Avulsed were not the sort off band to record a couple of great albums then fade away. It was another example of extreme music coupled with interesting and catchy riffs, earning them favourable comparisons to Amorphis. More releases followed including the DVD, "Reanimating Russia 2007," which took its title from the compilation album, "Reanimations," which mostly contained bands paying tribute to Avulsed but also featured some covers from the Spanish group themselves, as well as two new songs.

Their fifth album of all original material, "Nullo (The Pleasure of Self-Mutilation)" was unleashed in 2009, much to the delight of fans and death metal connoisseurs who had an appreciation for their work at least. It featured everything Avulsed fans wanted, from extremely grizzly cover art to song titles such as, "She's Hot Tonight (In My Oven.)" This was also the first Avulsed album to be released solely through Rotten’s own label, Xtreem Music, which appears to be where all future music from the band will come from, as their sixth album, 2013’s, "Ritual Zombi," was also released through the company. Two years on from their last full length, the band will release a new EP, "Altar of Disembowelment" this September which feature four new songs and a cover of the Black Sabbath track, "Neon Knights," which will no doubt further their place as one of Spain's best contributions to metal music and as one of the most gore drenched bands in the history of death metal.

Avulsed - "Powdered Flesh"

Avulsed - "Blessed By Gore"

Avulsed - "Wormeaten"

Avulsed - "Voracious Backpacker"

Avulsed - "Let Me Taste Your Flesh"

Avulsed - "Dead Flesh Awakened"