Putridity - Morbid Ataraxia

Angry Metal Guy

Formed in the early 2000s, Putridity are an Italian brutal death band. With roots as a solo project by a former member of Obscene Perversion, the outfit grew from a one-man-basement dream into a fully fledged lineup of slowly increasing reputation from infrequent release to release. A decade has passed since the previous full-length Ignominious Atonement, though the recently released Greedy Gory Gluttony EP finds the band with a refreshed but stable lineup and an enhanced taste for lethality. With last year being a stunning time for brutal death of all shapes and sizes, and this year already facing challenges from young bands and veterans alike, do these brutal statesmen have an argument for a place at the top of the beatings heap?

Morbid Ataraxia puts a lot of stock in its hefty production. A spacious tonal palate allows the nonstop battering-ram drumming of Cédric Malebolgia to erupt from underneath the riffs, with heavy emphasis put on snare violation and rapid-fire cymbal interplay. Vocalist Andrea Piro features a fierce guttural that channels the spirit of vintage Analepsy, human and caustic without deteriorating into pure trash compactor indecipherability. The tones of founder Putrid Ciccio and Manuel Lucchini unfortunately drown out bassist Giancarlo Mendo but make up for it in raw punch, straddling a perfect line between just enough treble for progressions to be heard and enough bottom end to sound like driving cement mixers. For an album that hinges on breakneck speed and more blasts than a military training ground, this breadth of clarity allows each savage moment to be present and accounted for with extreme prejudice to the listener.

Morbid Ataraxia by Putridity

At its best, Morbid Ataraxia is a precise and clinical display of the “never-ending cyclone of riffs” class of brutal death. Title track “Morbid Ataraxia” features a devastatingly foul plod of a chug while drums erupt with boiling rage underneath. “Overflowing Mortal Smell” manages to make a shuddering groove out of rarely placed halftime (for the tempo) riffage. Add more pinch harmonic-based phrasing than I can count, and time signature changes from measure to measure, and you have a recipe for a dose of relentless assault from cover to cover. The entire album is connected via samples, which range from ambient vocal gurgling and a (possibly unintentional) throwback to a vintage Skinless cut to the far more unsettling. The unexpectedly ambient ebb and flow of the album, with the samples bisecting various tracks and the constant gargling throughout the empty spaces lends Morbid Ataraxia a proper LP vibe, meant to be consumed in one sitting from beginning to end.

However, the worst thing about Morbid Ataraxia is that it’s a precise and clinical display of the “never-ending cyclone of riffs” class of brutal death. An excessive overreliance on pinch harmonics and monochrome snare abuse give the first half of the album a monotonous feeling, where each track feels like it could be substituted into another slot without impacting much of the album’s flow. Putridity traffic heavily in a vintage Deeds of Flesh approach to riff-craft, with moment to moment flowing into itself with little thought of hooks or repetition or accessibility. That’s fine, to a point; certainly big anthemic choruses aren’t what we are here for. But depending entirely on an “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to song craft means you need your individual riffs to actually pack a punch beyond their tone, and here is where the album falls flat. Two songs in, you will have heard every bag of tricks Putridity has to offer; not just the harmonics but limited drum styling, minimal lead flourishes, and speedy grinding chord progressions, all of which are quite lethal in their immediacy but ineffective in retaining attention ’til the back half of the album.

Putridity is a good band, and Morbid Ataraxia is a fine album, but the few highs it has presented have left me wanting more. The production is a delight, and individual performances are certainly top-notch. However, the band fails in overcoming brutal death’s greatest hurdle, which is to be perpetually interesting and not just obscenely heavy. The approach of stitching all the tracks together implies a concept of some sort, and I’d like to see them continue this approach in the future, but with widened wings in the composition department. For now, if you’re still chasing the brutality dragon, Putridity have you covered; just consider the artwork and don’t ask what you’re covered in.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Willowtip Records
Websites: Album Bandcamp | Official Instagram
Releases Worldwide: June 27th, 2025

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