SKULL399

ANATOMY, For Those Whose Eyes Are Black (1992, demo)

The skull:
Staring at the MRI cross section on the screen, the doctor asks is residents, “Can anyone tell me what we’re looking at here.” “It’s big, sir.” “Yes, of course it’s big. What else?” “It appears to be dumb, as well.” “Yes, yes, we all know it’s dumb. Big and dumb: that’s obvious. What else?” The residents shift nervously, all of them withering under the doctor’s steely gaze. “Jesus, don’t they teach you kids anything anymore? This big dumb skull is also a cranky motherfucker with small teeth. Write this down, because I’m sure you’re going to see it again.”

The music:
Rough and tumble death metal that only aspires to the technical proficiency of Hellhammer. Sloppy, sludgy, cavernously reverberated, and thoroughly unimpressive, I would guess this stuff was nominally inspired by early Death and maybe some Scandinavian stuff, but at least in 1992, Anatomy were not up to the challenge. They continued to exist for at least another 10 years, and who knows if they got any better, but their early demos pretty squarely suck. But, just as I’ll buy pretty much any crappy thrash reissue, I’m sure there’s someone who just can’t get enough of this demo death junk, and maybe they should start scavenging the lowliest of Melbourne thrift stores looking for a copy of this.
— Friar Johnsen