Pathology - Age of Onset

Although Age of Onset is one of Pathology’s most popular albums, I’m not really a huge fan of it. In fact, it’s probably my least favorite Pathology album. Of course, I’ll still listen to this and enjoy it if I’m in a brutal death mood, but overall, this album doesn’t have anything special about it. Age of Onset is one of those albums where if you look at each individual song, its filled with different kinds of anger and rage; but when you look at the album as a whole, you get one boring monotonous song. If you’re new to Pathology, this shouldn’t be your first listen.

The production quality is poor compared to the previous album, Incisions of Perverse Debauchery. The guitars have a different kind of crunch where the treble overpowers the rest of the guitar sounds. This unfortunate downside that the guitars create cause the music to have no mood and/or emotion at all. Although the guitars keep the brutality at high levels, they seem to repeatedly get lost and in their own world; it seems that they’re literally playing random chords in some cases. The vocals are probably the worst. They completely lack any sort of taste, versatility, or emotion. I haven’t heard vocals that sounded this dry since…I don’t know how long…since I went to that California Deathfest in 2009 when I saw some of the worst acts like Orchidectomy and Meat Shits (who are a lot like Anal Cunt in the sense that they’re so horrible and pointless that they’re hilarious).

You can’t tell the difference between any of the songs unless you’re actually paying attention to what track the player is on; that’s how monotonous this album is. Believe me, I’ve seen much, MUCH worse, but come on guys, you release your best album and THIS is the follow-up that you give me?? I know that it may seem that I’m just going on a rant, but this album actually isn’t that horrible, it’s just a bit below average. But the reason why I’m so pissed off is that you’re supposed to try to make a record that’s better than the previous one. But thankfully, they make up for this loss with Legacy of the Ancients the next year which is a fantastic record.

This is an album that can only be enjoyed by the hardcore fans of brutal death. I can’t see anyone else enjoying this album unless they’re completely new to the genre. I know that this is one of their most popular records, but it didn’t live up to my expectations this time. I would give this an 8/20, which isn’t a HORRIBLE score at all, but it’s a HUGE drop from their second album which I gave a 17/20. I wouldn’t recommend this album, but it’s not repulsive, it’s just not impressive.