GENESIS

"Genesis" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Chile, Santiago based progressive thrash metal act Coprofago. The album was released through Sekhmet Records in 2000. The album originally only consisted of 6 tracks (which must almost have made it an EP). The 2002 re-issue contains 3 bonus tracks recorded in 2002. They are not "new" tracks though but rather re-recorded versions of 3 tracks from the band´s debut album "Images of Despair (1999)". In addition to the audio tracks the reissue version of the album also features a live video for the "Chaos" track.

Coprofago plays a very progressive kind of extreme metal with heavy angular riffing, spacy jazzy sections, and aggressive growling and shouting vocals (The latter vocal style reminds me of Phil Anselmo in an aggressive mood). I´d say they draw upon influences from as different artists as Meshuggah, Cynic, and Pestilence (The spacy jazzy soloing from "Spheres (1993)"). One of the standout things about "Genesis" is the fretless bass playing by Rodrigo Castro, which gives the band´s otherwise brutal and aggressive music a mellow jazzy/progressive touch. The 6 "new" tracks are by far the most interesting on the album while the 3 "old" re-recorded tracks don´t add much to the originals if you already have the debut album. In fact I prefer the more raw versions from the debut.

Overall "Genesis" is a very powerful, intriguing, and well played album. We are dealing with very skilled musicians here. Track by track all songs on the album are intense progressive extreme metal tracks but because of the mixed nature of the release, with new tracks and re-recorded old ones, "Genesis" does sound a bit fragmented and lacking in consistency. A 3.5 star rating is deserved.