Back in the ‘90s, Roadrunner Records wasn’t just signing heavy bands — they were shaping the future of extreme music. And with Mutilated, released in 1997, they compiled some of their most ferocious and influential death metal signings into one unrelenting disc of chaos. This CD isn’t just a sampler — it’s a battlefield report from the frontline of death metal’s golden age.

Kicking off with the unholy fury of Deicide’s “Dead by Dawn”, you’re immediately dropped into a pit of fire, flanked by Pestilence’s suffocating blastbeat science, Obituary’s grotesque groove, and the surgical violence of Suffocation’s “Infecting the Crypts.” That alone is worth the price of admission — but wait, there’s more carnage.

Brujeria shows up with their militant, Spanish-language grind assault. Gorguts, already drifting into technical insanity, provides “Hideous Infirmity.” Believer throws in their progressive thrash-death oddities, while Disincarnate and Malevolent Creation keep the riff count high and the blood flowing. Then you get hit with Cynic’s “Veil of Maya” — a track that’s part death metal, part jazz-prog alien encounter — and the dread of Immolation’s eternal fire. Sorrow and Skin Chamber bring things to a close with bleak, sludgy punishment.

Mutilated captures the diversity within death metal in one violent, 13-track onslaught. It’s essential listening not just for genre fans, but for anyone who wants to understand the legacy and evolution of extreme music. And with this original U.S. CD pressing, you’re not just buying songs — you’re buying a historical document of metal’s most unhinged era.