200 Stab Wounds - Manual Manic Procedures (2024) Hi-Res

"Tasteful" isn't a word most people would reach for to describe a band called 200 Stab Wounds. But as far as gory death metal goes, the Ohio foursome's sophomore effort, Manual Manic Procedures, is, among other adjectives (crushing, brooding, wicked, thrilling), surprisingly tasteful. 200 Stab Wounds are esteemed graduates of Maggot Stomp Records, the California DIY label who introduced the world to Frozen Soul, Sanguisugabogg, Gates to Hell, and many other knuckle-draggers who've coagulated into a new legion of old-school death metal that's been dominating the 2020s. Slave to the Scalpel, 200 Stab Wounds' 2021 debut wasn't offering anything that Cannibal Corpse hadn't already perfected three decades years earlier, but it served as a crucial gateway into meat and potatoes death metal for a new generation of fans who were coming to the blood-stained metal genre from hardcore.

On Manual Manic Procedures, 200 Stab Wounds are keen on challenging listeners who are expecting more of the same mosh-pit churn. The simplistic songwriting conventions that littered Scalpel have been diced up and stitched back together into gratifyingly non-linear new forms. "Release the Stench" opens with the kind of divebomb shredding that usually arrives during the bridge, leaving open space in the song's back half for a decelerating chug. Vocalist Steve Buhl doesn't have much range beyond his devilish low grunts, so the band craftily leave many of their riffs un-adorned, which not only bolsters the cavernous atmosphere they're going for, but makes for a pleasantly uncluttered listening experience.

The wordless riffing at the start of "Defiled Gestation" is badass enough without the vocals, and the synth-adorned instrumental centerpiece, "Led to the Chamber / Liquified," is a macabre rendering of dark-cave ASMR that's easily one of the record's highlights. There's plenty of brutality on Manual (Code Orange singer Jami Morgan howling during "Ride the Flatline" is heavier than anything on Scalpel), but it's the quick-fingered soloing and through-composed riffmanship that makes Manual such a fun, engaging, and yes, tasteful, helping of OSDM.