Strange to think, but with thirteen years behind them, Chris Reifert and company have managed to make shock-metal outfit Abscess last longer than his influential (if sorely under-appreciated) death metal band, Autopsy -- and although Abscess had from the start resigned themselves to purely bad taste, there's something commendable in such persistence.
Although not likely to ever stumble onto something as great as _Mental Funeral_ or even _Acts of the Unspeakable_, for the hardcore grind addict as well as those who enjoy the later Darkthrone records (worth reminding that this is released on Nocturno Culto's label), this much will be sufficient. Reifert (now sporting a shaved head and facial hair a la GG Allin), along with former Autopsy cohort Danny Coralles and Joe Allen (Von), enlivens the act with twelve tracks of more explicit (and solid) punk rock ("Another Private Hell", "Four Grey Walls" -- the latter a great imitation of Black Flag) alongside their usual meth-addled dirges ("When Witches Burn", "Beneath a Blood Red Sun") with a title track that works surprisingly well as an instrumental. Despite a much thinner production, it's their best in years.