For odd reasons I've never gotten around to picking up General Surgery's 1991 debut EP Necrology, but it's said to be very good, and it also made General Surgery somewhat of a cult band in the death metal underground. Many line-up changes have occurred, and the band even broke up, only to reform in 1999. Now several line-up changes and years later, the Swedish goregrinders put out their first full-length Left Hand Pathology.

The music is a total Carcass worship, but with a stint of Swedish death. It doesn't beat the masters, but it's still a fairly enjoyable experience, with songs like "Ambulance Chaser", "The League of Extraordinary Grave Robbers" and "Capricious Provisional Cadaver Grater" being among the tracks that stand out. The music is varied, but it gets a little same-sounding after a while. Logically the Carcass influences are very present, but it's never too much. General Surgery also bear a lot of similarities with other Carcass admires, like Exhumed and Impaled, both lyrically and visually. The music is mostly kept in a steady tempo, but there are regularly blastbeat outburst providing a needed contrast and variation.

There's nothing new under the sun, but it would also be wrong to expect that, having in mind the band's roots. Left Hand Pathology shouldn't be taken for more than it is, and if you're able to do that, then there's an alright album here.