Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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Despite being from Japan, Corrupted sing mainly in Spanish. They also have songs in English, German and Japanese. The band policy is not to do interviews (they never had done any in the past) and do not let professional photographers take their pictures. There aren't any promo pics of Corrupted, but a few shots from fans at concerts do exist.

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Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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If Corrupted´s last full length to date then, "Paso Inferior" required a full disc, "Llenandose de Gusanos" needed from two full compact discs to contain only two tracks! And, in fact, this works amazingly well, because the masterwork music that Corrupted develop in this release grows with repetition, minute passing and obsessiveness.

I really do not want to spoil and ruin you the brutal experience of listening "Llenandose de Gusanos” for the first time. Instead of it, I want to make a proper review of a complex work that assaults not only your senses but your soul. If you have any doubt, or you think that reading this will interfere in your listening innocence to this 2xCd, I encourage you to not continue reading.

This massive doom-drone-sludge-ambient opera, starts with a soft amd hypnotically slow piano playing –by guest keyboardist Bravo Yoshida-, that goes long for some minutes, until we realize an obscure voice whispering background in Japanese, like reading or praying orations. This is the "‡V Sangre" part, that suddenly finishes when the piano stops, forming a silence that is broken into pieces by a crushing assault of guitar/bass/drums chords in the down tuned doom-sludge tradition, letting the chords sound long until feedback appears. As you know, Corrupted are one of the slowest bands in the world, and this time they use patience to create a funeral ode to decadent beauty, depression and corruption.

This may be a personal interpretation, but this second part of the first track -entitled "‡Y Humanos"- gives both the impression of a mammoth funeral than a claustrophobic coffin with his own universe of maggots and corporal decadence. The vocalist Hevi is all the way growling in Spanish (I am Spanish, and I can tell you I can not understand a word, even reading the lyrics, that are something like Spanish with Japanese syntaxe. This is not a problem, you know, in fact makes these lyrics more puzzling and mystifying, like a dead language or a cryptic hymn). This is the most powerful part of the record, while obsessive repetition of chords grows in nuances when the piano and the keys appear again, with the special and supreme presence of the keyboards, creating a choral ambience that goes long and long until the song finally starts to fade and lose strength.

After this colossal piece, it comes the second disc, that is radically different. "‡[ El Mundo" is a 74 minutes lasting ambient track, connected spiritually with the first disc, kind of the quiet spaces of ether after the massive assault of body´s ruin. The only sound here is a constant low rumble created by the manipulations of Takehito Miyagi, an evocative ambient drone that leads to a transcendent stupor. Ecstasy, as everyone knows, takes its time.

There is nothing you could compare to "Llenandose de Gusanos". Only to make an approximate idea, I could tell you it reminds me somehow the “Leng Tch´e” piece of John Zorn´s Naked City, although, as you can see, the spirit of “Llenándose de Gusanos” does not deal at all with torture.

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Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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Essentially, to me, ‘Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos’ can be viewed in much the similar light as the follow-up effort, ‘El Mundo Frio’. The latter is a record that comes in the form of one song, a self-titled song that last over an hour. To me, ‘Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos’, which contains three tracks, works in a similar way to the epic 2005 effort, which took Corrupted to a new level of musicianship. Although this record doesn’t come in the form of one song, it does build up it’s soundscapes in a similar way to that of ‘El Mundo Frio’ which, in my opinion, makes this another hit record from the stylish Japanese outfit. This record symbolises a change in methods by Corrupted. The first stage of the three stages present on this record is produced in a slow manner and laid down by acoustics and spoken word. The second stage is much more harsh and laid down by distorted guitars and heavy work on bass lines. The third and final stage is laid down by a faster tempo but keeping the remaining elements of the second stage alive.

As I said previously, ‘Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos’ builds it’s atmospheric styling in much the same way to ‘El Mundo Frio’. Take the first song on the record, as an example. Whilst ‘Gekkou No Daichi’ doesn’t contain that same hazy electric guitar lead as ‘El Mundo Frio’ did to begin with, it does contain a beautiful acoustic passage, which draws on and on, never ceasing to amaze with it’s internal and external beauty. This song, like the opening to the aforementioned record, has a similar job. It’s inclusion on the record seems to be to lull the audience into a false sense of security which fans of ‘El Mundo Frio’ will be experiencing here in a similar sense to that on ‘Gekkou No Daichi’. The acoustic guitar with the perfect spoken vocals, which sing in Japanese to my knowledge, are situated perfectly next to one another. The combination of the spoken vocals, which contain conjurations of pain, are the ideal backdrop to the simplistic acoustic leads which don’t overpower in the slightest. Much like the aforementioned record, it’s passages like these that add an extra sense of diversity to Corrupted’s ambiguous nature. The seeming simplicity is an illusion, much like the context of beauty which ebbs and flows throughout the beginnings of this almost flawless song. The lack of bass or percussion doesn’t hinder the song at all. Whilst bass can act as a sombre instrument, the soundscapes are perfectly depicted by a single acoustic section and a sorrowful vocal section, which makes for a very interesting listen. ‘El Mundo Frio’ was my first taste of Corrupted and will hold a special place in my heart forevermore, but this effort does not pale in comparison.

Again, like ‘El Mundo Frio’, the next song on the record pushes aside the simplistic beauty of the acoustic section and the clean, spoken vocals and replaces these aspects with a much less diverse sound. Whilst I do appreciate the turn in emotional content, I find myself being appealed to more by the slow nature of the sombre sections which, as stated, are created by the subtle instrumentation. While the simplistic vibe still flows through Corrupted’s sound, the inclusion of the instruments that make doom/sludge so convincing turns the emotional content of this record on it’s head. From anguish and pain to a far more aggressive perspective, the distortion of the electric leads, the heavy work on both bass, cymbals and snares doesn’t much this as light sounding as it’s predecessor. ‘Rato Triste’ is uncompromising in comparison to the previous song, but has less conviction from an emotional view point. The subtlety of Corrupted’s genius was generated by elements that are far more superior to what is present on ‘Rato Triste’. I appreciate the fact that this song is meant to sound far different from the one that came before it, but like on ‘El Mundo Frio’, the even slower patches of material are the best, especially when they incorporate less traditional elements of doom and sludge, such as acoustics. The work on bass is particularly noteworthy as it adds a lot to the texture of the music. Whilst the leads are more impressive, the bass and double bass on percussion is where this song gets it’s deliciously heavy soundscapes.

The third and final song, ‘Sus Futuros’ is a slightly different also. This track took me by surprise, I must admit. In some ways, it’s a breath of fresh air in terms of what came previous to it. The faster tempo, which isn’t always the case throughout, is different to what I expected. It was new and rather exciting. The production used on all songs, particularly the first is spot on. The sludge feel shines through particularly in terms of the thick set production which enforces the heavy lining that the bass work sets in stone. I don’t consider the harsh and growled vocals to be essential to the soundscapes because the instrumentation is good enough to enhance any emotional content that Corrupted wish to explore on this effort. Just like the second song, ‘Sus Futuros’ aims to create a similar feel. A thick bass lining, highly influential drums and solid leads make for good song structures, which Corrupted possess. In some ways, the faster tempo that the third song brings to the foreground reminds me of the work an infamous Australian band once pioneered. They were called Disembowelment, I’m sure you know who they were. I would state, and perhaps a little boldly, that Corrupted’s material is on a par with the quintessential work of the aforementioned Australian act.

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Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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Sure an unusual band are Corrupted, they are japanese who began producing short stoner songs where they sang in spanish, and they ended up with a one track album that exceeds one hour. The music has also changed a lot, since 'Llenandose De Gusanos', their sound has evolved into a surprising experimental doom, ambient with a little stoner influence, and alternate rough and Clean vocals.

It is the same formula for 'El Mundo Frio', the track begins quietly with synthetiser loops, guitar is rising little by little, then starts suddenly a huge doom part, followed by mellow moments where the singer narrates with a spoken and clean voice lyrics, which are in japanese. For the rough singed parts, I wasn't able to recognize the language, but I have to say is that Hevi's vocals in them are terrific. Serioulsy, I believe that corrupted singer has one of the most efficient, original and unique screaming vocals, if he sang in a death metal song, it should be memorable, of this i'm sure. The title is also well chosen, when you listen to 'El Mundo Frio' with the image of a cold world in your mind, you can really feel being a part of it. It is also right with what it is said in the lyrics, but I didn't read the english translation the first time I listened to the piece.

Corrupted music has reached a point that it became unclassifiable in one specific genre. 'El Mundo Frio' deserves the maximum rating for offering to the listener a real musical experience. I would also be curious to see Corrupted playing live, for how they manage to set a playlist with such long pieces, and the crowd reaction for a music, that is for me, not suitable for headbanging but surely very, very heavy.

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Corrupted - Albums Collection 1999-2011 (5CD)

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In their latest instance, Corrupted, a band traditionally known for being one of the main figures in the ultra-heavy-yet-not-quite-funeral/drone sludge scene since all the way back to 1995, delivers a rather different approach to their crushing, demolishing style. As, it would seem, an attempt at keeping up with the times, they have included some rather atmospheric (not that they haven't meddled with ambient before, see their double album Llenandose de Gusanos) and even post-metal-ish elements which at times resembles big daddy Jesu, or even decidedly atmospheric sludge bands like Bossk and Nadja to accompany that trademark, asphyxiatingly extended sludge doom with low, growled vocals.

At first, the acoustic and clean guitar intros are not exactly a surprise, as we've seem them incorporate such elements in the past seven years, but this time around they occupy as much of the listener's attention as the distorted, black and white moorlands (which have been well represented in the albums' artworks since Llenandose De Gusanos) that used to make for most of the running time. Along with this change in focus, the band has decided to soften up the distortion ever so slightly, in order to focus on textures and extended notes, rather than crushing grittiness. The tempo, possibly the other big element that has defined this band since the very beginning (along with their instantly recognizable riffs, which sound like stoner-tingled, minimalist hardcore played at an incredibly slow motion) seems to defy logic by actually being slower than usual, mainly due to the fact that, this time around, the snare drum (arguably any band's pacemaker) is possibly the least used part of the drum kit. Perhaps the music is not actually slower, but that technique surely gives off that impression.

The songs themselves seem to blend into one great opus, which is divided into two main parts and an interlude of sorts. The first part, clocking at almost half an hour, is perhaps the most complete song, in the sense that it clearly presents the elements previously described in an almost progressive arrangement. The last few seconds merge with the first few seconds of the second song, which is a very short (less than 5 minutes) ambient-heavy acoustic bit that works great as a separator and a short break between the two big opuses. Predictably it merges with the last tack, which clocks slightly above half an hour and represents the more traditional, heavy-guitar centred sound we've come to expect from such a legendary band. It starts with a continuation of the "interlude"'s theme, suddenly entering pure sludge territory and keeping it steady for the remaining of the song, only interrupted at the very end with a short acoustic finale.

All in all, this is a rather logic progression, if you are familiarized with the band's outputs. But this time around, Corrupted has decided to take their more abrasive elements down just a notch in order to let the music breathe and inhale some new elements, a new focus that seems to point towards the band's need to actualise their sound. Luckily on one hand they haven't drifted significantly from their traditional style and haven't fallen victim of the modern, polished, artificial sound of "post-metal" or modern metal in general; on the other (also lucky) hand, their choice for inspiration when it came to gravitate towards new sounds seems to have been a very tasteful one. I can sense a lot winks and nudges to bands which have become pioneers and staples in the whole heavy-but-ethereal subset of extreme metal, namely Jesu, Nadja and even Cult Of Luna or Bossk. Whether these are the bands that Corrupted has chosen as an influence, or, indeed, whether such an influence was a conscious decision or just a result of logical evolution is a question for which I have no answer, and I'm sure the members of Corrupted are not willing to give one anyway.

The only reason this album doesn't get a 100 is that, regardless of how well this mix is executed and how well it works on my ears, it doesn't feel exactly original, or even exactly updated. This album might have been extremely original some three or four years ago, but now it feels more like a very, very old revolutionary is trying to catch up with the latest generation of thinkers. It is, however, a very promising entry point to the new decade for this band, and I do have the feeling the band is nesting an interesting amount of potential to further explore and expand their sound, in order to once again blow people's minds away with stunningly beautiful and original works, just like they did in the mid-to-late 90's, and again in the early-to-mid 2000's. Let us hope the band is up to the challenge of this new decade, and let us also hope they'll be able to surpass themselves without completely leaving behind the elements that made them who they are today.

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