200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures
Reviewed By: Jon Santitoro
Review Score: 10
In a genre of music where the word “brutal” has become the adjective of choice, 200 Stab Wounds are in a league of their own. Armed with a concise approach to songwriting, top-tier musicianship and a ferocious live set, this fast-rising Cleveland quartet is set to dominate the metal world in 2024 and beyond.
Comprised of front man Steve Buhl (guitars, vocals), Raymond Macdonald (guitars), Ezra Cook (bassist) and drummer Owen Pooley (drums), 200 Stab Wounds have refined their sound and created arguably the perfect death metal album of 2024: Manual Manic Procedures.
On the surface, Manual Manic Procedures would seem to be a fairly straightforward musical endeavor. But dig deeper, and the listener will discover an exemplary death metal experience, both crushing and complex. Manual Manic Procedures draws upon various influences, and is savage enough to appease brutal death metal fans, yet catchy enough to hold old-school listeners’ attention. Put simply, 200 Stab Wounds have outdone themselves, and put out possibly the best release of ’24 up to this point. No small feat, given the success of their contemporaries thus far.
OSDM fans will doubtless take to the album right away; as the opening track (‘Hands Of Eternity’) kicks off with a creepy intro that melts seamlessly into the band’s trademark groove. ‘Hands Of Eternity’ has all of the necessary elements to be a crushing show opener, should the band decide to incorporate it into their live set.
The band returns to a more basic approach with ‘Gross Abuse’; a short but heavy bludgeoner that clocks in at a mere one minute and fifty seconds but still packs a hell of a punch.
Songs like the title track and the brilliant instrumental, ‘Led To The Chamber/Liquefied’, highlight 200 Stab Wounds‘ musical prowess and uncanny ability to write songs that are as diverse as they are heavy.
The back half of the album is as solid and well-crafted as the front; highlighted by the infectiously catchy ‘Flesh From Within’, and the down-and-dirty riffing of the album’s closer, ‘Parricide’. Listeners will undoubtedly have their favorites, although it’s remarkably difficult to pick a clear-cut standout on this album where every song is top-notch. 200 Stabwounds may not have reinvented the wheel so to speak, but they damn sure perfected it with this album.
Overall, Manual Manic Procedures is a well-oiled war machine of an album; at once both ferocious and precise. 200 Stab Wounds have crafted an instant classic that should easily shove it’s way to the forefront of any Album Of The Year discussion, and leave the majority of the competition devastated in its terrible wake.
Manual Manic Procedures is scheduled for release June 28th via Metal Blade Records.