Contaminated 5.0 – Review

Contaminated 5.0

(Relapse)
by Tim Den

Relapse has grown into an empire over the last decade. I still remember picking up their first release (Deceased’s Luck of the Corpse) and being thrilled by the discovery of a new label. Now the roster’s big enough to fill two discs and 45 tracks (which, interestingly enough, doesn’t include Deceased), not to mention the right to boast reissued classics such as Repulsion and Dead Horse.

As we all know by now, this label deals in the death, technical, sludge-y, grinding, stoner, and occasionally “weird.” The best of which are death metal gods Suffocation, tech masters Mastodon and Burnt By The Sun, Apocalyptica clones Amber Asylum, the Portishead stylings of 27, the taffy-like madness of Cephalic Carnage and Dysrhythmia, the never-ending horizons of Neurosis, and Blood Duster‘s irreverent un-PC pummeling (title: “IloveitwhenJoePesciswears” off the album Cunt). Some decent stuff with horrible crap in between all those goodies. But you gotta get the yin in order to receive the yang, right? More: Alabama Thunderpussy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, High On Fire, Nile, Daylight Dies, Alchemist, Pig Destroyer, Bongzilla, Pentagram, Today Is The Day, Genocide Superstars, Halo, Origin, Regurgitate, Skinless, Gadget, Dying Fetus, The End, Disfear, Mortician, East/West Blast Test, Employer, Employee, Gorerotted, Red Harvest, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Exhumed, Benumb, Soilent Green, Uphill Battle, Broken Bones, Human Remains, Nasum, Hemdale, Contrastic, Cryptic Slaughter.
(PO Box 2060 Upper Darby, PA 19082)