Customer Reviews

Xysma / First and Magical

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, since Amazon didn't provide them, here is the complete track listing of this 2-disc set:

DISC 1:
1. Why Am I I? (3:19)
2. On The Hill Of Desecration (3:37)
3. Uranus Falls (2:08)
4. Aspirations: (3:03)
5. (I) Reflections Of Eternity (3:20)
6. (II) First Sunbeams Of The New Beginning (0:50)
7. Above The Horizon (4:38)
8. Importance Of The Dimensionless Mirage (2:36)
9. Until I Reach The Unattainable (3:07)
10. There's Only One Sun (1:38)
11. Written Into The Sky (3:09)
12. Outro (0:50)
13. One More Time (4:07)
14. Souls Are Stolen (1:54)
15. Uranus Falls Again (2:23)
16. Turning (3:16)
17. You Can Call Everything In A Question (2:41)
18. My Mind Like A Heron (2:56)
19. Clouds Give Me Consolation (2:50)
20. Can't Imagine Your Death (4:32)
21. Symbol (3:17)
22. It's My Sound (3:11)

DISC 2:
1. Intro (0:45)
2. Pulsating Cerebral Slime (0:36)
3. Pulverized Necrobrains (1:27)
4. Gripping Slaughter (0:38)
5. Festering Sore (0:16)
6. Procreated From Blood (1:42)
7. Sudden Impulse (1:32)
8. Unanaesthetic Genitoplasty (0:17)
9. Fetid Gurgitation (0:08)
10. Fleshsaw (1:12)
11. Patholigists Perversitys (0:24)
12. Priests Fomented In Excrements (0:47)
13. Charred Limbs (0:36)
14. Drown Oneself (0:53)
15. Burbed Rectum (2:27)
16. Phrenetic Chainsaw Suicide (0:54)
17. Evisceration (1:43)
18. Vacant Mind (0:27)
19. Deceiver (Napalm Death cover) (0:30)
20. On The Hill Of Desecration (3:40)
21. Entangled In Shreds (live) (2:29)
22. Embodiment Of Morbidity/Fata Morgana (6:02)
23. Foetal Mush (2:00)
24. Paradise Of Steaming Cadavers (4:27)
25. Entangled In Shreds (2:38)
26. Mild Stench Of Rot (2:30)
27. Dismemberment In Trance (3:31)
28. Cranial Cradle (3:12)

Now, onto the review:

If Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation were the most extreme bands in the underground in 1991 and '92, in 1989 it had to be Xysma, but this was long before the sound broke in the U.S. I mean, who else could come up with song titles as brilliant as "Pulsating Cerebral Slime"?

If disc 2's titles above remind you more than a little of those of early Carcass, then so will Xysma's early output. It seems that Carcass's 1988 grindcore masterpiece "Reek Of Putrefaction" left an indelible impression on Xysma, because on April Fool's Day 1989 the young Finnish band entered a small studio and recorded their debut demo "Swarming Of The Maggots" and committed the whole thing to tape in course of that one day. So much for prolonged studio time! "Swarming..." is no doubt the band's own version of "Reek Of Putrefaction," complete with a similar intro and it being 17 minutes of non-stop splatter. No song on it lasts longer than two minutes, with the majority shorter than one. The blasting drums on this recording are sick, sick, sick! It went on to become a widely circulated tape in the international underground in '89 and I can see why. It alone is worth the price of this compilation.

Immediately following is the "Fata Morgana" 7" from 1990 and the "Above The Mind Of Morbidity" 12" mLP from 1989. Here the band expand their repertoire and the songs get longer but still just as brutal (ala what Carcass did on that year's "Symphonies Of Sickness" LP). My only complaint is that the production on these two releases especially is really lacking.

This problem was solved when in the fall of 1990 the Fins made the trek all the way to Stockholm, Sweden to record at the famed Sunlight Studios with the assistance of Tomas Skogsberg, who had that same year cut what would become some of the most important Long Players in death metal history. The resultant "Yeah" LP (tracks 1-12 of disc 1) stays true to the "Symphonies"-era Carcass sound but here the band shed the gore lyrics/titles and went for something more cerebral and esoteric (see song titles above). "Yeah" sees some beautiful melodies added to the formula of still blasting drums and guttural vocals and it is clear that the band had more going on than your average straight death metal band.

By 1993's "First And Magical" LP (the remainder of disc 1) the band had abandoned the Carcass worship sound entirely and went for straight death'n roll. Not being the biggest fan of this sound, this album is probably my least favorite in this collection, but note that even it contains some excellent riffs.

As for the packaging of this compilation, the booklet contains a well written retrospective on the material included here and is packed with rare photos of the band through the years, some apparently from when they were just starting out as teenagers or just beyond it. My only complaint is the absence of any lyrics or artwork from the original releases.

It's a shame that these guys never got their break and are still relatively unknown here in North America, with all their music being available only by import here, and made rarer by the fact that most of the material here (with the exception of the "Maggots" tape) was originally released on vinyl only and on the tiny and long forgotten Comeback Records.

All in all though, if you are a fan of Impaled, Exhumed, Regurgitate, and obviously Carcass, I don't see how you could possibly go wrong in purchasing this compilation. Splatter lives!