The oddly-named Tscabeze were an Australian brutal death metal band that released only one album called Opus One before splitting up. I'm guessing they were working on an Opus Two but they never got around to it. I'm really confused by the cover art. Why does this guy have so many bladed weapons in his head? I've also noticed something else that's quite strange. His body is badly painted yet the weapons have a great deal of detail to them. Let's hope the music makes more sense than the album cover.
This album was recorded in 1993, during brutal death metal's infancy, which means that many of the characteristics that define modern brutal death metal weren't codified yet. This means that this album doesn't really sound like brutal death metal but more like a Hodge-podge of stuff that sounded extreme. The band was essentially throwing shit at a wall and seeing what stuck. So what kind of shit did they throw at the wall, you ask? I'll show you.
The first thing you'll notice is the death/thrash riffing. The tuning isn't very low at all. Most of the time, the riffs are no more aggressive than Slayer. The solos also sound too much like thrash metal. Death metal solos are supposed to sound like infernal firestorms. The solos here are melodic, light-hearted and optimistic. That's not death metal. These solos would sound great on a thrash metal album, but this is supposed to be a death metal album. Therefore, they don't belong.
The vocals are hilariously bad. They don't really sound like death metal vocals so much as they are a parody of death metal vocals. He tries to growl yet it's obvious he doesn't have the throat for it, nor does he have the technique. Like Strong Bad once said, growls don't come from the tops of your lungs, they come from the bowels of your lungs. The only good part of this album are the drums. They're able to perform blast beats and double bass just fine and they make sure to throw in plenty of intricate fills, but they mainly stick to thrash metal rhythms. The bass is also pretty good, but it's not distorted enough to be considered death metal.
Overall, Tscabeze would make for a great thrash metal band, but the problem is that they labeled themselves as a death metal band. These guys do not play death metal. Also, the vocals just plain suck. He is seriously not cut out for death metal. If this album really was meant to be a brutal death metal album, it would be safe to call it a failed experiment.
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