Album Review: 200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures (Metal Blade Records)

Cleveland death metal legends-in-waiting 200 Stab Wounds return with ‘Manual Manic Procedures’, a superlative sophomore effort that follows 2021’s Slave to the Scalpel, their tour de force debut. It is out on June 28th, 2024, via Metal Blade Records.

If Slave to the Scalpel was the sound of 200 Stab Wounds kicking down the door of the death metal party, Manual Manic Procedures is the sound of them tearing it up on the dance floor. Albeit, in a way that leaves onlookers horrified and repulsed. This isn’t an album you dance to, it’s an album you fit to. Think that subway scene from 1981’s Possession, and that is what you can expect your body to do in response to the nine tracks of this album.

It’s hard to offer anything fresh sounding in this genre, least of all when the focus is still on delivering garish and grim death metal sounds. Yet, 200 Stab Wounds already proved they had plenty to offer with their debut, and now they surpass that high bar with an album of contemporary heaviness that isn’t afraid to look outside the death metal genre for inspiration.

Case in point, opener Hands of Eternity, which to be clear, is heavy as f**k. However, it also has melody and groove. It’s a banging start, and perfectly complimented by the no-nonsense aggression of the following Gross Abuse. A track that puts a sick smile on the face as it showcases the gory side of 200 Stab Wounds. Before the title track completes the first third of the album with the chunkiest of riffs, filthiest of blast-beats, and most guttural of vocals.

Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with words to describe death metal to a reader. There’s only so many ways to call something brutal, but 200 Stab Wounds makes it so easy because they are so creative. Take the guitar soloing at the start of Release the Stench and the meaty groove that follows, it’s so good, capped off by bursts of mania.

How about the touches of horror atmosphere and melody that makes up so much of Led to the Chamber / Liquified? An instrumental effort with a screaming guitar solo and pure chaos right at the end. Or the belligerent brashness of Flesh from Within? A track with some thrashy undertones.

Death metal is rarely this much fun to listen to and rarely is extreme music this accessible because of the quality.

The final third of the album brings forth even more joyful savagery, with 200 Stab Wounds showing off their contemporary thinking again with Defiled Gestation. While also delivering a barrage of heaviness that will make you gurn. Before Jami Morgan of Code Orange joins in on the violence with the brutalising Ride the Flatline. No matter how many times you think 200 Stab Wounds have hit the peak of heaviness, they find a new one.

All good things must come to an end though, and the screams from this party haven’t quite died down yet, as 200 Stab Wounds have one more wicked effort to showcase. It’s Parricide, and it is a bloody offering that will turn stomachs.

The hype is real. 200 Stab Wounds are a very special band, and are becoming leaders of death metal’s future. Fans of the extreme can’t miss out on hearing this slab of brilliance.

200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures Track Listing:

1. Hands of Eternity
2. Gross Abuse
3. Manual Manic Procedures
4. Release the Stench
5. Led to the Chamber / Liquified
6. Flesh from Within
7. Defiled Gestation
8. Ride the Flatline
9. Parricide

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal Blade Records