Putridity | Morbid Ataraxia | Willowtip Records

 Formed in Italy in the early 2000s, Putridity has long maintained a low-profile but persistent presence in the brutal death metal underground. Drawing from the raw violence of the early 2000s European and American scenes, the band gained notoriety with albums like "Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria" and "Ignominious Atonement," combining overwhelming speed with technical chaos and dense songwriting. Known for their obsessive precision, gore-soaked lyricism, and walls of distortion, Putridity remain entrenched in a niche scene that values extremity above all else. With "Morbid Ataraxia," their fourth full-length and first since 2015, the band returns after a decade-long absence, continuing their punishing trajectory under the banner of Willowtip Records.

"Morbid Ataraxia" is a dense and punishing album, clocking in at just under thirty minutes. The pacing remains fast and relentless from the first second, with minimal space allowed for atmosphere or build-up. The production, handled across multiple studios, is heavy and extremely saturated, pushing the mix toward compression while retaining audible clarity across the chaotic instrumentation. Drums are at the forefront, with Cedric Malebolgia’s performance maintaining a blast-centric assault that rarely relents. Guitars from Andrea Putridciccio and Manuel Lucchini operate in dissonant layers, frequently alternating between tremolo picking and abrupt stop-start sections. The tone remains thick, unrelenting, and industrially cold.

Vocally, Andrea Piro delivers gutturals that rarely vary in pitch but are consistent and deep, blending into the low end without being buried. Lyrically, the album aligns with themes of decomposition, existential disfigurement, and bodily horror, all expressed through abstract and grim phrases. The track titles—such as "Adipocere Retribution", "Overflowing Mortal Smell", and "Immersed In The Spell Of Death"—suggest the album’s focus is less narrative and more atmospheric in its evocation of death and decay.

"Morbid Ataraxia" is strictly structured, refusing to deviate from its core stylistic framework. The songs are short, most between two to three minutes, and function as self-contained bursts of extremity. Technicality is present but is not emphasized in a flashy or performative way. Instead, the chaos feels controlled, every tempo shift and break programmed into a greater mechanism of suffocating rhythm and tonality. The track "Molten Mirrors Of The Subjugated" reflects this balance well—dissonant riffs bounce off tempo changes without ever collapsing the structure.

The album’s sequencing is fluid, with no sharp contrasts between songs. It plays as a continuous slab of sonic punishment, with small moments of dissonant slowdown or breakdown acting as the only moments of relative space. The mid-album title track "Morbid Ataraxia" offers perhaps the most comprehensible structure but still resists accessibility. There is no pivot point or dramatic shift—just endurance.

"Morbid Ataraxia" is an album that does not reach outward. It is built on repetition, density, and discipline. The music is harsh, compressed, and often overwhelming. Listeners familiar with the band or the genre will likely appreciate the consistency and intensity. Newcomers may find the album impenetrable or fatiguing, but for a band like Putridity, that’s arguably the point.

Score: 7.5