Death Metal has an endearing, crushing quality, but it can also be a genre where finding one’s own path can be difficult. Considering the hyper-aggressive nature that sometimes sacrifices songwriting for brutality, as it adheres to the sometimes monochrome, blood-red sounds of double bass and guttural vocals. Cartlidge manages to take on their own personality amid a genre that can be rather uniform in its sound and dynamic scope due to the common focus on aggression. Operating Altar (Everlasting Spew Records) is a weird concept album that has the crazy spirit of Acid Witch if they were not obsessed with Halloween. These guys are more focused on Carcass-like medical horror.  Continue reading →