HUMAN — The Sound Of Yellow (review)

HUMAN — The Sound Of Yellow album cover Album · 1999 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Vim Fuego
Many death metal bands have a habit of taking themselves too seriously, acting like they have a broomstick up their ass. Not Human.

Human are the sort of band which would yank that broomstick out, snap it in half, draw a Dirty Sanchez moustache on your grandmother with the shitty end and beat your dog to death with the other. Yep, you get a good dose of grind, gore and laughs with Human.

You know you are in for a good laugh as soon as you check the track listing. First song? "Easter Basket Full Of Carnage". Further down the list, "Hoopsciously Drangled", "Bright Green Body In A Big Black Coffin", "Wave Goodbye To Both Your Hands"… It is almost like Lawnmower Deth reimagined as a death metal band.

Often bands will resort to silliness to cover musical inadequacies (can anyone say Anal Cunt?) — not so here. You have everything needed for great death metal: guitars tuned to kill, blast beats, slower crunching heavy passages, dual vocals a shade easier to understand than Carcass, and a great grasp of dynamics. And then just when you think you've got your head around what's happening, Human throw in a curve ball. There is a definite taste of something non–deathly running through this album. At times, it touches on Kiss–like glam rock influences, and at other times, there is a hint of classic rock.

"Moonshine Highway" stands out like a dog's bollocks on this album. It is Southern fried death rock, which even the dead members of Lynyrd Skynyrd would boogie down to. It will be very popular in the banjo picking, cousin–marrying back blocks of New Zealand, just as soon as they get electricity.

Three tracks from the 1993 demo 'Vomit Discreetly' have been added to the end of the album. The tracks at least equal, if not outclass, much of the output of international bands of the time. It is punchy and would have generated many a brutal moshpit. If this had found the ears of the right A&R man…

It has been said before that some music should stay underground. This is too damn far underground. Do your ears a favour and go digging for it.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Brilliant band from the nearest city to where I live. They even used to play gigs as an Irish band (under another name!) to make a bit of money.
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Haha! Great review. Never heard of em. My kinda perverted deranged thing. You're right about too many death metal bands taking themselves too seriously

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Burden Metal Related
DOOM BEACH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Skirmishes Of Existence And Expiration Deathcore
SCAPEGOAT (NM)
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Scorching Gaze Sludge Metal
URZAH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Desert Frost Sludge Metal
TURBO MOSES
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us