Year of release: 1996 / 2021 (this version)
Label: Metal Race Records (this release)
Rating: Old Skull
In search of new-old releases, Metal Race is getting deeper and deeper into the underground. This time Tolya fished out the real basement band AMPUTATOR that operated in the city of Roslavl for a couple of years and recorded a single demo that you now have the opportunity to listen to. To be honest, there is not much to write about here. Obviously, the musicians were huge fans of CANNIBAL CORPSE, especially of “Tomb of the Mutilated” and “Butchered at Birth”. Literally everything here is filled with the meaty spirit of these two albums, the similarity sometimes is almost phonographic. Merciless blasting until everything that comes to hand is completely transformed into a bloody mince; unhealthy guitars, familiar transitions, a vocalist trying (I must say, not unsuccessfully) to keep up with Chris Barnes. I did not find cool bass lines, although, perhaps, they also exist, buried somewhere in the mix. As it turned out, the demo was recorded in one hour. I can’t vouch for the lyrics, they have not been published, but in terms of song titles AMPUTATOR surpassed them Cannibals easily: the very first track bears the mysterious and exciting name “Anal Oral Hole”. The rest of the tracks received names in completely deranged English, and I must say that the publisher also noted in this regard. Either Metal Race was sloppy or deliberately decided not to violate the authenticity, but the booklet contains an almost equally insane translation of AMPUTATOR's biography into English from some old magazine, which begins with the words “Yaroslavl is a russian country town in Smolensk region, this town is so small that i couldn't find it on the map right away".
In other regards, the label did a good job as expected. Nothing is said about the remastering of the original recording, and everything sounds really like a demo, but still rather clear - someone must have had a hand on it. The reissue contains a rarity in the form of a rehearsal version of an unnamed song, which was not included on the original cassette. The booklet includes the minimum of information that they managed to find: a photo, a poster scan, a scan of a biography and a scan of a review. Considering that none of the musicians seemed to have played anywhere else, even this was definitely not easy to dig. But the archivists of Metal Race know their stuff! Despite its scantiness, the overall design of the release turned out to be quite good. Details on a video.
The print run of the CD is only 100 copies, and this, I think, is enough for such record. If you are not spoiled by the sound of expensive studios and are nostalgic for the old CANNIBAL CORPSE, pay attention. This is Death Metal as it once was - barbaric, primitive, bloodthirsty, compensating for its stupidity with tireless onslaught.
English (UK) 
Крыўская