California’s Cephalotripsy dropped one of the most disgusting, brutal slam-filled filthy debut albums in death metal history with Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies in 2007.  The album cover alone was the price of admission!!  Outside of his other bands, some years later, such as Abominable Putridity, this is the album that put vocalist Angel Ochoa on the map, along with his early stint with Condemned.

But this is the album where his putrid, filthy, vomitrocious, clogged-sewer pipe vocals were truly realized.  This album had such down-tuned and sludgy slams, it is one of the most stupid heavy brutal slam death metal albums ever recorded.  After the album was released the band stuck around for a bit, however outside of some demos, that never translated to an album they disbanded in 2012, only to reform 5 years later and then wait another 7 years afterwards to finally release their second album, Epigenetic Neurogenesis.  Original guitarist, Andrés Guzman, also joins Angel.  Throughout the last number of years, their “newer” members, Diego Sanchez on bass and Albert Rios on drums round out the 4 piece wrecking crew.

If you are unfamiliar with the California death metal scene I will break it down for you quickly.  Outside of some other sub-genres we have on one side the really fast technical brutal death bands playing a million notes per 1,000 BPM’s.  On the other side are the knuckle-dragging filthy guttural slam bands, which Cephalotripsy are part of and who also helped create it close to two decades ago.

So…you’re wondering…..hmmmm is Epigenetic Neurogenesis worth the 17-year wait??? You see the striking blue-toned album cover, bearing the classic band logo, but a cover more fitted for the likes of the last Abominable Putridity album or even one from the now defunct Braindrill?? So you’re asking yourself does this sound like those bands or the classic Cephalotripsy??  You have come to the right place, but you’ll have to continue to read on to see how the sound of this is…I promise not to be a tease and to divulge pretty quickly.

“Transcending into Orbital Solitude” starts things off and yes it’s an intro before “Alpha Terrestrial Polymorph” begins with the blasting and production is extra clean and polished sound; sounds more akin to what California is putting out these days and similar in some ways to the last AP album Angel sang on.  But christ almighty once that opening slam hits and Angel’s vocals hit, the putrid nature is back and the down-tuned sludge erupts.  This moment is not for the weak.  The pinch harmonics are all over this song, calling to mind 90’s era NY death metal.  These pinch harmonics are so sharp and squealing that they will slice and dice your body all day long.  The faster blasting takes over, but those sludge slams take over towards the end.  If this song opens their live set, they may want to put this in the middle of the set.  Opening with this song, the crowd will collapse after the song.

“Ulcerated Mass of Pestilent Engorgement” is up next and that slam at the 1.50 mark is bludgeoning with the clogged-sewer pipe-styled vocals and heavy riffing.  This part continues on and on and the harmonics come in clean and sharp.  The stop and start slam moments require you to two-step in the pit, without mercy.  The killer growl extends over the mid-paced heaving heaviness and the song takes a turn towards an ass-kicking ending of a slam.  JFC….relentless.

“Induced Primordial Regression” ends the album with guttural down-tuned opening slam moments with Angel’s burping vocals all over the place.  The rhythm section is ridiculously heavy and there are so many slams across this song it’s tremendous.  Nice little bass line at the 2.58 mark, almost signifying the song is ending, but nope.  Right into another filthy slam that is punishing right until the last note is played.

Epigenetic Neurogenesis has a much cleaner and more polished sound than its predecessor.  So while I prefer the production of the debut, in the last 17 years this type of death metal has become much cleaner and that is now the norm.  Especially the California death metal scene.  The lyrics on this are more of the space-themed type of brutality of out-of-the-world entities, like the last AP album and many others, rather than their more gruesome lyrics of yore.  What Epigenetic Neurogenesis does have going for it and what Cephalotripsy has continued to do is create an album so ferociously filthy and heavy and I love every stinkin’ second of this.  Pure knuckle-dragging brutal slam death metal.  There are numerous catchy riffs and moments on this not to mention the plethora of pit-induced slams.  Then there is Angel’s vocals, sounding incredible and I am left wondering….because I have heard pretty much every brutal slam death metal album in the last decade.

You know this may be the most slam-filled heavy brutal album in the last decade.  Sure. I take ownership for saying that.  Go ahead Angel-quote me on it.  Cephalotripsy has returned to stomp you into the ground!!!!!!!

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