Onset of Putrefaction is the debut album by German technical death metal band Necrophagist.

The original 1999 version of the album was very difficult to obtain due to distribution problems with French label Noise Solution Records who owned the rights to its music and pressed only 1,000 copies.

American label Willowtip Records' founder Jason Tipton described the situation in an interview:[1] I first heard Onset in 2000.

It was a complete mess.Despite the hardships of the situation, Willowtip eventually successfully re-released Onset of Putrefaction.

The re-release version of the album features new cover art as well as a complete remaster of all its songs as well as new resampled drum machine tracks.