malsonus.com : DEATHPILE reviews

Reviews of DEATHPILE - Final Confession (Pain Compliance 2005):

AVERSIONLINE :
Nice. I haven't heard but so much of Deathpile's material over the years, and what I have encountered hasn't blown me away, but I have to say that this superbly executed collection of material (spanning 1997 - 2004) makes me wish I had followed the project more closely when it was still active (Deathpile was shelved in 2004 for mastermind Jonathan Canady to focus on one of his other projects, Angel of Decay). Each of these songs was hand-selected by Canady, making up what he views as the project's "essential work" - sans a few notable omissions due to space constraints, etc. Included is a vast selection of power electronics/death industrial mastery from the "Dedicated to Edmund Emil Kemper" and "Abominations" 7"s, the "Random Acts of Cruelty" CS, the "120 Days of Sodom" split LP with Discordance, the "Non Plus Ultra" CD, the split CD-R with Whorebutcher; and the "Back on the Prowl", "Gutters of New York City", and "Pornography Hurts" CD-R's. Most of the tracks run four to five minutes and consist of aesthetically raw foundations of throbbing low-end and gritty distorted crunches, while the vocals are, of course, always distorted in some manner and appear in the form of spoken narration, grunts, shouts, and shrieking screams. Some of the tracks see Canady joining forces with other contributors, but the bulk of the compositions find Canady flying solo. "Triumph of the Hunter" has some of the most distinctive vocal work, where spoke lines are delivered with minimal effects so the content's very easy to make out. "Blunt Anal Trauma" is a little more restrained in volume level, focusing on twisted atmospheric ambience and pulsing rhythmic textures alongside samples of a woman moaning/whimpering - and the correlation of the sounds and the samples definitely creates a far more disturbing sensibility than mostÉ this is not just a typical "noise-track-with-a-porno-sample" kind of thing at all. Companion tracks "Girone Della Merde" and "Girone Del Sangue" are also a little less abrasive, especially the former, focusing on rumbling and repetitious bass currents with vibrating midrange hums and prominent vocal performances. Later in the disc, "Execration" immediately jumps out as a standout with its sinister percussive sounds and ambient swells against distant samples (which are in Italian, I believe), making for one of the more consistent and droning dark ambient pieces - a surefire favorite of mine. None of the material is terribly harsh, though. And I like that. It's in your face and aggressive without being an absolute wall of distortion. Even thicker and noisier songs like "Breaking a Doll" are still dense and have a lot of character, and it's often the vocals that really start adding ferocity when they switch over to the searing screams. "Touch Me Daddy" is the one track that has more of a traditional harsh noise backdrop, even to the point where the vocals have to fight for space in the mix; with "Gutters of New York City (Berkowitz II)" coming in a close second in terms of base severity. "Slaugherhouse Pornography" is even an unreleased track taken from the final Deathpile rehearsal in March of 2004, complete with whispered vocals that are only faintly evident behind the crispy distortion. Worth noting is that, aside from the rehearsal track, which is slightly thinner, all of the songs sound surprisingly consistent with one another. Now and then there are some notable differences in muddiness or particular character of sound, but nothing so blatant that it comes across during a casual listen, so one would assume that the mastering has been well attended to. The packaging is all done in black and white with tactful images befitting of the content, and it fucking kicks ass - if for no other reason than you'll possibly never see another power electronics release that includes as many of the lyrics as possible alongside explanations of what the material was inspired by, indications of where the lyrics or samples were derived from, etc. Such content is incredibly honest and far too absent in most such artists' work, so it's awesome to see some additional insight and detail provided on this retrospective collection, because that makes it so much more than just another set of songs dealing with misogynistic topics and depraved acts of sexual violence. Great, great work. I'm not wild on "best of" types of collections, but considering that damn near all of these tracks originally appeared on ultra limited edition releases that are way the hell of print these days it's a killer cross-section of what the project had to offer. Those listeners who are into this particular style who've never given Deathpile much attention over the years should look into this just as much as existing fans who undoubtedly missed out on some of these rare releases. Very nice. (7/10) Running time - 71:10, Tracks: 15 [Notable tracks: Walking Time Bomb, Blunt Anal Trauma, Girone Della Merde, Girone Del Sangue, Execration]
- Andrew / aversionline.com

WORM GEAR MAGAZINE :
This CD is a collection of material spanning many releases that are now long out of print from this potent and influential Power Electronics project. There are 15 tracks here, the lyrics are included and in addition there is a brief statement from Jon Canady the main man behind the project regarding each track. The release includes tracks from the following releases, "Dedicated To Edmund Emil Kemper" 7", "Abominations" 7", "Random Acts of Cruelty" cassette, "120 Days Of Sodom" split LP, "Ne Plus Ultra" CD, "Back On The Prowl" CDR, "Gutters of New York City" CDR, "Pornography Hurts" compilation, a track from the split CDR with Whorebutcher, and one unreleased track from the final Deathpile rehearsal. For those unfamiliar with the project, their approach was always more straightforward than not. Heavy low end pulsing and dirty with higher frequency stabs and squirms providing the balance to the sonics. Not complex, but always urgent. It has a momentum and a tension to it that few have replicated. The vocals and the words gained a credibility against that teeth grinding back drop. Delivered in combinations of shouted, spoken and screamed tirades through varying levels of processing, they remained largely recognizable. Sampling has also always provided further clarity to the Deathpile vision, be they the words of predator or prey. I was particularly glad to see a couple of tracks from "Random Acts of Cruelty," which was the projects first tape, presented here because it shows a side of Deathpile that not many got to see. A more Death Industrial element with some creeping ambience, as the liner notes state "I was listening to a lot of early Cold Meat Industry bands back then." The tracks still sound great and stand well against the more savage nature of the projects later work. Everything has been remastered and sounds fantastic. All tracks here were hand picked by Canady to best reflect, in addition to a couple of releases still in print like the "G.R." CD on Force of Nature, what he sees as the projects "essential work." If you were ever curious about Deathpile this is a great introduction and if you are already a fan this may have something you missed, and even if it doesn't the sound on this is powerful and the liner notes worth it. - Scott Candey

Reviews of DEATHPILE - G.R. (Hospital Productions / Force of Nature 2003):

WORM GEAR MAGAZINE :
"G.R." refers to the Green River Killer, the entire release is dedicated to this, and is presented in the first person lyrically after literally months of research into the topic by main man Jonathan Canady. The vocals are more out front and dryer than you find in a lot of power electronics so that virtually every word is discernable. Still yelled and slightly processed, but clear. The rants of a man disgusted with life and the lives around him, the lives roaming the streets useless and easy. The music is a rumbling, jagged low end collision of frequencies and distortions that is largely steady in it's dynamics providing a concrete foundation for the tirades and complimenting the venom. Select samples relating to the case, and from victims who escaped with their lives are also used sparingly throughout. "Known Victims" is an interesting track you don't often find in the blood soaked Power Electronics world, being that it is reserved tonal ambient, and the vocals consist only of a female voice deliberately reading out a complete list of victims where they were last seen and their discovery sites. It is over 12 minutes long. The commentary then picks up from where the official list of victims leave off and deals with the time where he was, officially anyway, not active and leading up to his recent arrest. "G.R" is a well executed and researched piece of work that carries true ominous tone through the thick electronics, first person perspective that conveys the malevolence, rage and also the constraint that a killer this prolific would need to have to do what they have done. That's something that strikes me about the music, is it's teeth grinding restraint. That seething low boil that can only last so long. It's not manic and chaotic, it's steady and corrosive. It's a really well conceived collection that I think achieves exactly what it set out to. Powerful. - Scott Candey