Surgery are a death metal band formed in 2002 in Poprad, Slovakia. After working their asses off for years, they have produced their second full-length album Absorbing Roots. Now, as a reviewer, I try to step back from my personal tastes, but as always, they shine through in what I like and dislike about albums I listen to.
Death metal as a genre has never been my favourite form of metal, so someone who is more a fan of the sub-genre may object to a few things I say. Hence, I like to put the whole ‘My Opinion’ disclaimer at the beginning of reviews.
First, let me say that Surgery has done itself proud with Absorbing Roots. Within the first ten seconds of the album, you have a good idea of what’s in store for the remainder of Absorbing Roots. Straight ahead death metal, that will make your head bang, quality dual guitar work, big and chunky riffing, killer drumming and solid bass. Rado Body and Slavo Tomas do a phenomenal job on guitar, the interplay between them and the precise, strong and steady rhythm section of Peter Mikolaj and Robo “Hrdza” Hanečák’s bass really catches your ear, using many subtle changes to enforce Surgery’s groove. With outstanding riffage for the whole album and stand-out tracks like Clinic Death, Paradise and Image in the Mirror the soundtrack for vocalist Rastislav Šelleng is laid down excellently. The very crisp production really helping to re-enforce Surgery’s powerful sound, the whole spectrum of sound feels audible and strong.
Now for the negative points about the album in my opinion. While the soundtrack for the vocals brings a strong presence, it seems that sometimes the vocals don’t live up to the music.
The vocals of Rastislav Šelleng, don’t waver or change all too much, just straight-up death metal growly vocals, which is fine, however, there are some parts where the growl seems to falter and the delivery not as strong as it could be. The only reason I point this out is there are many parts during the album where they work well. The growl comes through passionately and sits with the instrumentation excellently.
The issue is these sections make the, for a lack of a better word, ‘weaker’ parts stand out more, to me anyway. I really would have liked to have heard a few songs in Surgery’s native tongue. Hand in Chains really comes out of the gates well, then the vocals kick in and while the growl is strong and passionate, the Slovak accent is hard to ignore. Maybe performing the song in Slovakian would have assisted the aggressive nature of the song. Also, the use of a sound clip at the end of River in Silence, it seems to be from a film. I’m not sure of the meaning behind it, but it seems just stuck in at the end of the track and makes the momentum falter for the next track, which happens to be Hand in Chains, to me at least.
In the end, Surgery has done a great job with Absorbing Roots, it’s a solid listen throughout, an exciting nine-track album that gets your head banging for its entire running length.
Release Year: 2018
Label: Support Underground
Category: Album
Country: Slovakia
Reviewed by Jonathan Hurley
