OUTRAGE – Brutal Human Bastard
- Posted on 26-11-2013
Normally emphasizing influences from AC/DC to Sepultura to Six Feet Under when describing your sound could signal a few red flags. Austria’s Outrage love 90’s death metal for sure, especially the mid-paced, groove oriented American style on this third full length "Brutal Human Bastard". Vocalist Markus Urstoger is much clearer with his growls that Chris Barnes, making material like the gallop-oriented "Mexican Standoff" and slightly jagged "Deprivation" enjoyable.
The guitarists settle into a thick, semi-down tuned riffing style, with the rhythm section keeping things very basic and in the pocket – which can be a little monotonous in the case of drummer Michael Mittendrein in terms of the faster typewriter double bass parts. I did find a few occasions where guitarists Manuel Alexander Berger and Gerhard Turk intertwined exotic and cultural thematic nuances in certain songs that reminded me of Sepultura – check out "At the Abyss" and "Won’t You Be My Flesh" for some of their best work.
A lot of the verses have this sameness in terms of simplicity when it comes to phrasing and delivery- making it hard to take the 11 tracks all in one sitting. Not a good thing when "Brutal Human Bastard" is not even 40 minutes long – so as such I think Outrage has a very limited appeal with the death metal crowd. When it comes to death metal, I prefer acts that are either slightly technical or of the Scandinavian variety- and thus average and pedestrian songwriting goes by the wayside.