You wanna talk about the end of the world? Here it is; top-decibel, well-crafted chaos-crush smacking you in the head like an iron thunderbolt. HUMAN REMAINS was a controlled substance that abused; the music hit your system like you had been dusted, sent the listeners into spasms of frenzy with stars and dead birds twittering around their skulls struck by the unruly walls of wallop that they had honed to the bone. The guitarists, Jim & Steve, are maniac magic-users, gripped in a bizarre mechanized tone-mime, channeling the chopped and smooth nadir of notes that must come from some nether-nether land in the sky. A radiated wind from the corroded core is waved from their weird wands, and they turned the knobs that turned the riffs into strange, scintillating symphonies and psychotic, sinister Hell On Earth sonatas that echoed the backs-to-the-walls of razor wire in front of firing squads, «NJ — Only the Strong Survive» state of mindless they called home. The leads were equally alien, they flagellate like R’lyeh rainbows birthing cat-o-nine-tail tentacles and things that resemble man-o-wars (‘cept they fly through space as well as the sea). The vocalist’s throat is filled with boiled blood and shredded horror, which he sprays in your face like burning-in-pain dragon’s breath. The drums boom like Barisal guns, and make the titanic clash march into an ordered anarchy of raining buckets of obliteration. Not to mention bassist Will, a punk rock coppertop who was solid on his bass as his head is bald. The band rose further from categories such as death metal, the crossed wires of styles transcend the sound beyond language limitations and faint descriptions in comparison to the real sound and raging aggression, live and in studio. HUMAN REMAINS are tightly wound around their wounds: I scream, you scream, we all scream…
«Human Remains was the most important band to rise out of the early 90’s N.J. death metal scene. While there were many high-quality bands, none achieved the lasting influence that H.R. continues to have to this day. For one, Human was aided by international releases on labels like Cenotaph and Relapse, but more importantly, is the lasting effect they had on the landscape of metal and extreme music. They proved that not only was extreme metal a genre ripe for experimentation, but that there was an audience to be had for outlandishly bizarre and brutal music, stretching and outright warping the definitions of what was acceptable in death metal. Without Human Remains, would we have Dillinger Escape Plan, Ludite Clone, Parade Of The Lifeless, Gorguts, Cephalic Carnage, Lethargy and countless others pushing the limits, continuing what one could call the «Human Remains Project?» Well, yes, probably we would. But you can be sure that Human Remains represents a significant step up this evolutionary ladder. Seeing H.R.
live was an experience, even in 1992, before the introduction of their most bizare song «Rote». By the time their end was near, they were untouchably good. The sad thing is that they were largely overlooked until near the very end. Until their record on Relapse, the cult of Human Remains fans was small but dedicated. They began to get wider recognition when they began playing basement hardcore shows following a show in New Brunswick with Deadguy. It was an entire generation of New Jersey «hardcore kids» who saw H.R. in the dark days of ‘95 (when the death metal scene had effectively collapsed on the east coast) had their minds blown. For many it was an ephiphany. This is was the proof that it was possible to get still more extreme, more intense, with out sacrificing melody and catchy songwriting. And because of this, they are legends.» (Anthony Saunders)
