Origin

This is the first studio record by the four-piece from Kansas. It is rawer and less technically polished than the albums that followed, and it is the first death metal album on a label to use the gravity blast — a technique their original drummer George Fluke had already used on the 1998 EP A Coming into Existence. It is the only Origin album made without bassist Mike Flores, and the only one with Doug Williams on bass and Mark Manning singing. Paul Ryan and Jeremy Turner play guitar and John Longstreth drums. Chris Wisco produced and Dave Shirk mastered. Nine songs run under half an hour. Vampster called it a masterpiece and recommended it to anyone who liked Dying Fetus or Suffocation. Encomium wrote of "9 bone-crushing, gut-ripping, cranium-tormenting Death/Grind tunes executed with a magnificent precision", and Chronicles of Chaos concluded: "Pleasant thoughts these are not, but neither is Origin. Damn fine music to wreck your mind to." The running order here is the original's as printed.