UMUR "Total Destruction of the Human Form" is the 6th full-length studio album by US goregrind/death metal act Blood Freak. The album was released through Horror Pain Gore Death Productions in October 2017. It´s the successor to "Squalor" from 2014.

If you´re familiar with the preceding releases by Blood Freak, you won´t be surprised that you´ll be exposed to filthy, raw, and organic old school goregrind/death metal featuring suitingly bizarre low-budget horror movie influenced song titles like "Melted and Splattered", "Drowning in Sewage", and "The Night of Unholy Desecrations". The music is strongly influenced by early goregrind Carcass (which most artists in the goregrind genre is in one way or another), but Blood Freak do manage not to sound like a one to one clone. The vocals are pretty much unintelligible deep growling, with the occasional snarling aggressive type vocal thrown in for variation. It becomes slighty one-dimensional along the way, but most of the time it works well. The instrumental part of the music features fast blasting goregrind sections, but also both slow and mid-paced heavier sections.

To my ears Blood Freak reached some sort of climax with the high quality "Multiplex Massacre" from 2007, and none of the succeding releases have been able to reach the same heights. The same can be said about "Total Destruction of the Human Form", which is another good quality goregrind release by the band, but also a release lacking the irresistable vile and filthy charm of the early Blood Freak releases (in particular the above mentioned "Multiplex Massacre (2007)"). It´s not that the band have stagnated or anything like that, because I hear several new songwriting/riff ideas here, that I haven´t heard from the band before, but the material simply lacks catchiness and memorability.

That´s not always an issue with music as extreme as this, and one of course can´t expect to be able to sing along to easy listening choruses and other "normal" types of hooks, but a memorable riff, rhythm, or vocal phrase here and there would have made "Total Destruction of the Human Form" a much more inviting release. As it is, it´s still a quality release by Blood Freak, featuring solid musicianship, a well sounding, raw, and organic production, and decent quality songwriting. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Multiplex Massacre" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Oregon based grindcore/death metal act Blood Freak. The album was released through Razorback Records in April 2007. It´s the successor to "Live Fast, Die Young... And Leave a Flesh Eating Corpse!" from 2006. Blood Freak is a one-man act consisting of "Maniac" Neil Smith, who performs all vocals and instruments on the album. Smith also recorded, produced, and mixed the album himself, at his own Midnight Mania Studios.

Smith already showed great promise with Blood Freak´s debut album "Sleaze Merchants (2003)" and that promise was fullfilled on "Live Fast, Die Young... And Leave a Flesh Eating Corpse! (2006)". "Multiplex Massacre" further expands on the goregrind/death metal style of the two predessesors and Smith successfully incorporate elements from both thrash, traditional heavy metal, and doom metal, to the core goregrind/death metal sound. The vocal style is still strongly influenced by early Carcass and we´re treated to both high pitched aggressive snarling and lower more unintelligible growling. The lyrical subjects are as gory and humourous as ever, which song titles like "Cleavage Cleaver", "If You Have Guts... He Wants Them!", and "Poultry Pervert", are a testimony to.

The material on the 13 track, 33:12 minutes long album are well written, and for the most part catchy and memorable. The use of 70s/80s horror/exploitation movie samples has been scaled back compared to the use of samples on the predecessor. The samples were an important part of that album, but because of the use of new stylistic elements and the variation within tracks that the thrash, trad., and doom metal elements provide the core style with, the samples aren´t missed. "Multiplex Massacre" is filled to the brim with powerful and raw organic riffs and drumming, quite a few well played guitar solos, and the above mentioned "classic" goregrind vocals. The variation between fast blasting goregrind parts and mid-paced death/thrash/heavy metal parts work wonders.

The powerful, raw, and organic sounding production is the icing on the cake. It´s a perfect sound for the material featured on the album. "Multiplex Massacre" is not just one step forward, but two steps forward from the already great predecessors, and Smith really hits something special with this release. While in many ways a relatively standard goregrind/death metal release, there are a lot of ways it´s not. And that´s what makes this one a special listen for fans of the genre, in addition to the high level musicianship, the well sounding production, and the well written material. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Live Fast, Die Young... and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse!" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US deathgrind act Blood Freak. The album was released through Razorback Records in May 2006. It´s the successor to "Sleaze Merchants" from 2003. Blood Freak is a one-man act consisting of "Maniac" Neil Smith, who performs all vocals and instruments on the album.

Stylistically the music on the album is goregrind with death, thrash, and doom metal elements. It´s old school to the bone and Smith even mentions that no drum triggers or drum sequencer were used for the recording of the album. So "Live Fast, Die Young... and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse!" naturally features a raw and organic sounding production. It´s a professionally produced release though, and the sound is perfect for the material.

The album features 23 tracks and a full playing time og 67:30 minutes. "Right on!" which closes the album is 23:55 minutes long and consists mostly of silence, so ultimately the album is "only" about 43 minutes long if you disregard the silence. The remaining tracks on "Live Fast, Die Young... and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse!" are all between 1 and 3 minutes long, except the 4:14 minutes long "The Nameless Stench of Forgotten Celluloid", which is the longest track featured on the album. So in that respect this is a pretty standard goregrind release.

"Live Fast, Die Young... and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse!" is a bit different from your standard fare goregrind release though, because Smith so cleverly incorporates death, thrash, and doom metal elements to the (early) Carcass influenced goregrind that is the basis of the music, which means the tracks are often a bit more varied, catchy, and memorable than what is usual for the genre. The use of samples from horror movies also work really well. The samples are predominantly placed between tracks working as seques, but occasionally also appear within tracks. The vocals on the album vary between a phlegm induced guttural growling, and a higher pitched aggressive snarl. The Carcass influence is clearly audible there.

Upon conclusion "Live Fast, Die Young... and Leave a Flesh-Eating Corpse!" is a high quality goregrind release and a great continuation of the musical direction which was initiated on the project´s debut full-length studio album "Sleaze Merchants (2003)". Lyrically (if you haven´t already guessed it from the album title) we´re dealing with gore/horror themes of the campy type. Song titles like "Gobble Up Your Guts Part 2: Revenge of the Turkey Monster", "Mucouspewing Lungslasher", and "The Screamatorium Drive-in", should give you a good idea of what to expect. A good combination of the vile and the hilariously funny. It´s all done with the right amount of authenticity and high quality songwriting skill, and all things considered a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Squalor" is the 5th full-length studio album by US goregrind/death metal act Blood Freak. The album was released through Willowtip Records in October 2014 and is the successor to "Mindscraper" from 2011. Blood Freak has always been the brainchild of "Maniac" Neil Smith and he is also the sole remaining member from the lineup who recorded the predecessor as drummer Travis Ruvo has been replaced by Pierce Williams, and Tony Papasadero has been added as the band´s bassist, leaving Smith to only handle guitars and vocals (he also handled bass on "Mindscraper (2011)".

Nothing has changed in the musical department though, as the music style on "Squalor" is still goregrind/death metal with B-horror/gore movie lyrical themes and imagery. The quality of the material is generally a bit higher than the case was on "Mindscraper (2011)" though, and more comparable to the high quality of "Multiplex Massacre (2007)". Stylistically the music is a mix of Carcass influenced goregrind (the music for example features the classic high pitched aggressive snarl meets deep growling vocals) and old school US death metal and thrash (and even an excursion into stoner doom territory on "Sothoth's Sabaoth"). While especially the goregrind parts aren´t the most innovative or unique sounding, Blood Freak still manages to pull off playing a rather generic style in a convincing manner. There´s lots of bite and passion (and skill) behind the delivery, and the tracks are generally well written and relatively varied for the style (also featuring really well played guitar solos, and the occasional horror movie sample). It´s also almost impossible not to be charmed by songtitles like "Intestinator", "Tentacles from the Void", "God Is a Lawnmower", and "Discodeathbox". Now that´s the right kind of kitch in my world.

The sound production is powerful and raw, yet clear enough to easily make out what is happening in the music. A perfect sound for music like this. Upon conclusion "Squalor" is a nice return to form for Blood Freak, after the slightly less interesting "Mindscraper (2011)", and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Mindscraper" is the 4th full-length studio album by US goregrind/death metal act Blood Freak. The album was originally meant to be released in 2008 through Razorback Records but that never materialized and in December 2010 Blood Freak signed a deal with Willowtip Records who released the album in April 2011. I don´t know if the band has made improvements, re-recorded tracks or anything else that could set this version of "Mindscraper" apart from the version which was intended for release in 2008. The 2008 version was meant to be titled "Scared Stiff" and feature a cover artwork by Edward Repka though, while "Mindscraper" ended up featuring a cover artwork by Mark K. of "Frightfeast Comix".

Compared to the earlier more deathgrind oriented releases by the band "Mindscraper" features more similarities to the more death metal oriented goregrind "Multiplex Massacre (2007)". The tracks have become even longer this time though. Most of them are around 3 to 4 minutes long. That´s actually pretty long for goregrind tracks. Of course Blood Freak isn´t an out an out goregrind act as they incorporate filthy mid-paced old school death metal elements in their music. Acts like early Carcass and Impetigo are the prime influences. The lyrical themes still revolve around cheesy B-Horror movies, Zombies, blood and splatter and song titles like "Slaughterhouse Recollections", "Sex Trash Princess", "Paralyzed by the Medusa Spider", "We Kill Cause We Care" and "Death Trip... In the Drug Den of the Damned" are testaments to that.

"Maniac" Neil Smith as usual handle vocals, guitars and bass but he is helped out on this album by Travis Ruvo on drums and Kevin on vocals. The band are generally very well playing but they make sure to leave room for some loose organic playing to keep the whole thing filthy and authentic sounding.

Besides the tracks generally being longer than usual, "Mindscraper" doesn´t add that much new if you are already familiar with Blood Freak (well a couple of electronic experiments are a new feature). Personally I think the album sounds a bit too much like a routine release from the band. I´m not as enthusiastic about the album as I have been about all three predecessors, but it´s hard to say exactly why that is. I just don´t find "Mindscraper" as oddly charming as the predecessors. It could be because the tracks are longer and they really don´t feature enough quality riffs and ideas to justify being that long or it could be the more sparse use of cool B-horror movie samples which dominated the earlier releases by the band. We´re definitely not talking a bad release here by any means, but considering the usually very high quality level of the band´s material I think I´ll reserve the right to be slightly disappointed here and I find that a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.