Blind Buy Surprise Albums Pt. 8: Yyrkoon: Occult Medicine

I really do not remember why I decided to pick this album up. I remember that I was placing an order with The End Records, the main purpose of which was to pick up a couple of Rotting Christ re-releases as well as some other black metal releases by 1349 and Melechesh. I think the Yyrkoon album was on clearance and I threw it in there. Boy, was I glad that I did though, because this one hell of a good album.

Yyrkoon (pronouned ear-koon, I think) is a French death metal band. The band started out as more of a melodic death metal band but trimmed those influences down to old school death metal bands like Obituary and Morbid Angel and some groove metal influences. The band has one riff from "Trapped Into Life" that sounds lifted from Pantera's "Rise".

Occult Medicine is a concept album revolving around H.P. Lovecraft's tale "Herbert West-Re-Animator" or at the least the incredibly campy, yet enjoyable, movie starring Jeffrey Combs. It essentially tells the tale of a doctor experimenting with raising the dead, to disastrous results.

The music is highly competent death metal that is at once muddy and razor-sharp. The band used keyboards earlier in their career, but those have completely disappeared by this album. The album is a testament to old-school death metal and is performed in that style, with the types of riffs and vocals one would expect of the genre. But, it's incredibly infectious and fun. Which makes this a quality release.