200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures (Review)

Looking at the band name and the artwork for this album, I think everyone knows what 200 Stab Wounds offer on their second full length record, which serves as the successor to 2021s Slave To The Scalpel as well as the EPs Piles Of Festering Decomposition in 2020 and Masters Of Morbidity in 2022. For those unaware, it’s pure, unfiltered and filthy fucking death metal.

Making quite the buzz with their debut LP in 2021, 200 Stab Wounds quickly became one of the most hyped and also hated bands within the genre of guts and gore which we all adore. While some found their mixture of old school death metal and downtempo hardcore to be primitive but highly effective and fun, others saw it as a Cannibal Corpse rip off with worse intrumentation and poorer songwriting.

Now with their follow-up the rather young band (formed in 2019) of Ohios origin manages to successfully build upon their raw and primitive foundation. Opener “Hands Of Eternity” enters the building almost calming with soft acoustic guitars and synths, before kicking in with one of the nastiest death metal grooves that quickly transforms into an onslaught of dynamic stop and go riffing.

Still the ingredients are the same as before with chugging palm muted guitars, faster tremolo picking, groovy double kick patterns and guttural vocals. But in contrast to their beginnings, 200 Stab Wounds provide these elements in a far more effective way here, since the band cleverly utilizes newly found atmospheric bits and textures to enrich their beatdown onslaughts and general soundscape. One can even pick out subtle melodies and passages that create a new atmospheric layer to the songs textures.

Surely most of the material found here is still in your face and mosh pit fueling material, such as the brief “Gross Abuse“, the marvelous title track or the pre-released single “Ride The Flatline” which features Code Oranges Jami Morgan that should fuel every metalheads need to headbang within a split second.

Also the records flow is notably better than on the debut, thanks to the added musicality as shown in instrumental “Led To The Chamber / Liquified“, the soloing in “Release The Stench” or the Bolt Thrower-esque closer “Parricide“. Fans of slammy Death Metal akin to Dying Fetus (but way less technical), old Cannibal Corpse and Skinless should definitely appreciate the bands development in the songwriting department, opting for a far more recognizable identity.

Manual Manic Procedures definitely serves as one of this years death metal highlights, as it provides a fresh and fun approach to the genre, containing all the genres best elements and turning them into something special. Additionally the band managed to turn the right screws to enrich their sound, making songs like “Flesh From Within” or “Ride The Flatline” absolute barnburners for many pits to come. Clocking in at roughly half an hour, the records offers no real stinkers, making 200 Stab Wounds’Metal Blade debut a truly remarkable and fun album to bang your head to. Now open this pit you fuckers!