General Surgery started releasing music in 1990, but split up for over a decade to reform in the new millennium. When they began, they were grizzly acolytes of gory legends Carcass, excreting their first demos before even the release of Necroticism. This scene was even more extreme lyrically than it was musically; the sound of records like Reek of Putrefaction mirrored exquisitely by the baroque anatomical terminology of the lyrics. General Surgery both pre-breakup and post-rebirth, wallow happily in that same offally territory. Much like with fellow Swedes Regurgitate the profane drollery inherent in Carcass song titles is dragged out and milked (“Viva! Blunt Force Trauma, Unruly Dissection Marathon”, etc). And their pounding deathgrind riffing is hammered home with the same thuggish efficiency of goregrind heroes Exhumed.

The first of their two LPs was only released in 2006, and were preceded by a long flurry of EPs, splits, and compilation contributions. It’s these disparate offerings that constitute this 30 track compilation, making for occasional jolts in the sound quality over the running time, but that hardly seems to matter. Avid collectors will no doubt have this already on a handful of different releases and formats, but for those whose interest in goregrind is slightly more casual (like myself) this is a pretty useful artefact. General Surgery are not a varied or original band, but they are definitely an entertaining one. The classic goregrind multiple vocal attack is deployed with gruesome efficiency, the deep gurgles blending wetly and stickily with the higher-pitched shrieks that constitute a backing chorus. And the riffing nicely conveys the sensation of being repeatedly mashed with a tenderising hammer. Choosing highlights is like selecting which order your toes are sawn off in- it all seems much of a muchness. But I particularly enjoyed the high octane death metal thudding of Pre-Bisectal Corrosive Immersion, the down-tempo clump of The League of Extraordinary Grave Robbers, and the raucous grind ‘n’ roll of Deadhouse. Appropriately, it ends with a cover of Carcass’s Empathological Necroticism- a composition rather more complex than General Surgery’s typical shorter numbers, but absolutely in keeping with the release’s character. Neato!