UMUR "Subconscious Lobotomy" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Centinex. The album was released through Underground Records in October 1992. Centinex formed in 1990 and released the two 1991 demos "Stupid Humanity" and "End of Life" before being signed for the release of "Subconscious Lobotomy".

So two years into their career and only a couple of demo recordings under their belt it´s no wonder that the material on "Subconscious Lobotomy" is raw, savage, and a bit immature in the songwriting department. Stylistically this is old school death metal. My first thought was actually not that it was a Swedish band playing although the album was recorded at Sunlight Studio, because there are elements from both the early US and UK death metal scenes (early Cancer is for example no stranger to Centinex) as well as Scandinavian death metal influences. So Centinex are definitely not another Entombed/Dismember clone on this release.

While Centinex combine quite a few different influences and form their own sound from the various stylistic elements of those influences, they don´t manage to create the most distinct sounding personal death metal style using those elements. "Subconscious Lobotomy" comes off relatively unremarkable although it´s not a bad quality release. Sure the sound production is a bit raw around the edges, but that´s how an old school death metal release should sound in most cases right? The musicianship is decent too and the growling vocals are actually relatively varied for the style, so it´s mostly in the songwriting department that "Subconscious Lobotomy" aren´t fully up to par with the best contemporary releases. The tracks often aren´t that memorable despite Centinex adding sporadic atmospheric keyboards, tempo changes, thrash oriented death metal riffs, and bringing both heavy and faster parts to the table.

So upon conclusion "Subconscious Lobotomy" is a decent quality debut release from Centinex and there is certainly promise here, although it´s not completely fulfilled, and with a few more memorable and catchy moments Centinex dark and savage death metal style could well have been more interesting. As it is now I´m intrigued but not completely satisfied with the release. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.