I, like most metalheads, love bargain/clearance bins at music stores. You can find such a wide assortment of used CDs that it’s borderline hilarious. I’ve seen the contents of used CD bins run the gamut from Bonnie Tyler’s Greatest Hits (which was comprised of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” 14 times) to 135 copies of St Anger, to random CDs by Burst, Immolation, Phazm and loads of old Metal Blade CDs.

And with these CDs costing anywhere from 99 cents to a measly $6 or $7… why not take a chance and make blind purchase, stock up on a long lost classic, or even replace a CD you had to trade or sell just to get that penile enlargement surgery?

I often wonder how some of these treasures (or trash) end up in these CD orphanages. I get why there are 135 copies of To the Extreme or St Anger in every used bin, but why would some metalhead purposely trade in his original print of Immolation’s  Dawn of Possession or Import press of Dismal Euphony’s  Soria Moria Slott ― CDs I have actually seen in a used bin?

With a job that takes me all over the state, as well as frequently to other states, my first stop is always the local CD stores, whether it be a Hastings, FYE or some back alley used CD store. I spend hours peruses the clearance bins and CD racks for some hidden metal gem, so myself and hopefully some of the other writers here will regale you of some of our best (and worst) finds.

The only requirements here are that the CDs had to have purchased at some sort of used/clearance music store, either online or retail. The albums also have to be releases that we, here at Teeth of the Divine, haven’t covered already and they also have to be more than a year older ― otherwise we’d simply do a regular review, right?

So without further ado, I present one of my very favorite (and recent) bargain fins finds:

Malignancy
Intrauterine Cannibalism
(United Guttural Records, 1999)

I had only actually first heard New York’s Malignancy on 2007’s Inhuman Grotesqueries, so upon seeing this in the local CD store used tray, I immediately grabbed it, my curiosity piqued as to how the band sounded over a decade ago on their debut, and even more curious due to mislabeled tracks in the back and the misspelling of the band’s name on the CD inner tray spine (spelled Malignacny). No spell check in 1999?

I’m pretty sure, though a somewhat revered release amid brutal death metal aficionados, Intrauterine Cannibalism was probably lost in the great death metal saturation or Nile dry humping that was occurring in 1999. But what we have here is actually a very good old school US styled semi-technical/brutal death metal record with some great songs, that’s much more simple and bludgeoning that their 2007 iteration.

Though still fully rooted in Cannibal Corpse (just listen to the opening riff of album opener” Rotten Seed”), Malignancy’s New Yawk roots bleed though with enough rough and ready slams and denim clad street toughness to give it a slight Suffocation-vibe. Throw in some truly deep guitars and vocals, and despite the water thin snare drum sound, I understand why this CD is viewed as somewhat of a classic. And personally, it’s much more raw and earthy than there long awaited follow-up. I’m pretty sure there’s no Pro Tools or digital shenanigans going on here.

The already mentioned opener “Rotten Seed” has a simply killer, classic groove and other tracks like “Intestinal Sodomy” , “Profitable Extinction”,  “Waterlogged Corpse”, “Bag” and other gloriously nineties death metal named tracks that pull no punches or push no envelopes but captured the essence of ’90s American death metal perfectly.

In all a very well spent $3.99 and a cool little find in a rural mid-Missouri CD store