Carnivore Diprosopus is a no-nonsense brutal death act hailing from Bogota Colombia, and I’ve got to admit it’s nice to listen to something this brutal after focusing my attention on the hardcore realm in an attempt to become better rounded and more diverse. Every now and then it’s nice to delve out on a limb, but its death metal like this that always keeps me frothing at the mouth.

It takes, oh, about five seconds to dissect the direction of the material on Madhouse’s Macabre Acts, but what Carnivore Diprosopus lack in subtlety they make up with finesse. The concept is simple, think of every horror movie you’ve ever seen then translate those emotions and images into one aural abomination of straightforward, slamming brutality and hyper groove death metal well versed in the tradition of Cannibal Corpse that plays brutal death ala Devourment and Vomit Remnants with the passing Skinless similarity and moments not too dissimilar from early Dying Fetus. The overall musicianship is a bit too simplistic for my taste, but the reliance on catchy groove and direct riffing keeps this album from becoming a pointless noisefest with no distinctive musical ideas.

All the instruments sound per usual with the style that always gives it the tagline sick and twisted. The guitars are heavily distorted and bottom heavy comparing easily to a more goregrind sound while the drums, though well played, sound like ass. With a better production there’s no telling how great this would have sounded, but with their current situation the music is stifled instead of being translated as extremely powerful and full as I'm sure their live set is.

There’s one divergent characteristic of Carnivore Diprosopus from the usual melee of brutal death, the vocals. Oscar Macias’s use of deep, guttural vocals comes as no surprise; the vocals here aren’t any different tonality wise, but what surprised me is Macias’s alternating style. His use of drawn out rumblings is countered nicely by his use of punchy grunts that articulate choppy, clipped phrases. Most bands can’t keep the vocal department interesting no matter how varied the music, but Carnivore Diprosopus have found a niche somewhere between variety and constant brutality.

There are often changeups of style towards the delivery of unrelenting blasting death grind like the start of “Skinned a Crazy eat”, but these moments are by no means the focus of Carnivore Diprosopus, they just serve to mix things up again before the next barrage of grooves ala “Deformed Creatures Pavillion”. My only problem with this is that almost every song seems a bit formulaic with songs like “Dancing with my sons Corpse”, never really stepping out and venturing into new territory after the initial churning of “Electrotherapy”.

Madhouse’s Macabre Acts is pure Colombian butcher brutality that any fan of country mates Goretrade would be proud off. This release isn’t the most challenging you’ll encounter, nor is it the most innovative, but for what it is it's fucking solid. My only issue beyond the strong similarity between songs is that this is going to be on the large scale looked over because of its relative simplicity. They’ve got their style down no problem and know exactly what they’re aiming at; they’re just a bit underdeveloped musically. With a bit more experience and focus, Carnivore Diprosopus will be able to take their music to the next level.