It is a well known fact that the US and death metal have shared a very long and cozy relationship. You can only gape with awe at the number of talented musicians that the country seems to produce. Now Shaun LaCanne might not be the most famous of the lot but boy he sure is talented.

Officially putrid pile has three permanent members. But hey, no one man band can survive without support staff. However unlike their more illustrious European counterparts (read graveland and burzum) they do make their presence felt sometimes.

The pleasure in suffering sees the band pretty much sticking to its original style of music which can aptly be described as brutal gore grind meets slamming NYDM noise. This union of Florida and New York is neither new nor unique. Overtly gory and brutal death metal has mostly been redundant since butchered at birth. The only reason it is still surviving is due to the genius of certain bands and individuals. And putrid pile will make sure that it remains enjoyable for many more years to come

Rooted firmly in early Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation , the band combines heavy prog-laden mosh riffs with heady grooves and furiously paced flowing beats. Song structures are excellent with dark, rolling passages sliding smoothly into more technical guitar work that verge on soloing. The tracks cut to some hefty riffing with a low-end vocal delivery. The bass grunting is played off against a higher, rasping vocal attack with both styles having their source in the same throat. Throughout the album there has been an intelligent use of samples making sure it is not overdone. Most of the drumming is programmed which is a slight let down but is pretty much a norm for the genre. There is still an organic feel to the beats with double bass drumming building before eventually kicking through the slow, sludgy chugs .Production is good, Tracks are delivered clearly, but there is an attractive dirty edge to each composition, which can make a refreshing change for those devotees of the more clinical Polish sound.

Tracks like “Rush Hour Killing Spree”, “Putrid Pile (of Rotting Corpses)”, “Gorging on Labia”, “Caged and Awaiting Death” and “Food for the Maggots” deliver some pretty stout moments of rumbling heft and satisfying East Coast groove that will get your head bobbing. Granted, tracks like “Baby Brains”, “Battered Bitch”, “Bind, Torture, Kill” and the artfully named “Circlepit Commando” are short sharp stabs of pretty faceless blasting, they fall under the bloody umbrella of ‘well done for what it is’.

Overall Putrid Pile have a grasp of dynamics and enough tempo awareness to make the album more than a standard 31 minute ass raping assault. A nice collector’s item indeed but mind you this one is only for those who like it extremely EXTREME.