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Country: Ireland/England/USA Release Date: 2008 Record Label: Grindethic Records Track list:
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Putrefy/Blasphetized/Vomitous Rectum - Vomiting Putrid Blasphemy
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| Putrefy Connor - Guitar/Vocals Beaver - Bass Jason - Drums |
Blasphtized Tom Blackwell - Vocals, Guitars Adam Hooton - Guitars, Programming |
Vomitous Rectum Tom Monnick - Vocals Devon DeCarlo - Guitar Rob Dodge - Bass Ryan McKenna - Drums |
Good ol' GrindEthic. You can often be sure of high quality Brutal Death crunch or filthy Death/Grind sickness from their releases, so this 3-way split ought to be on a par with the rest o' Mr. Rushforth's catalogue, especially seein' as it's touted on the site as “one of the most brutal split CDs since 'North-West Slam Fest”. That'd be nice, ‘cos the …Slamfest was very good indeed, and offered some extremely promisin' works from three UK Brutal Death fledglin' flagships, all of whom now seem to have dried up a wee bit. Crepitation dissolved due to inter-band disagreements (then later reformed with a new line-up, but only for playin' out on special occasions), Kastrated started takin' things a bit steady (perhaps ‘cos of Smith's extensive Reth [review] appearances, as well as lots of Crustie-pleasin' house-gigs and squat shows with The Afternoon Gentlemen [review]) whilst Ingested apparently caught some sort of Metalcore bug, and started issuin' logo pocket mirrors. So, is Vomiting Putrid Blasphemy a satisfyin' Slamfest sequel? Let's see eh?
Irish band Putrefy, who've actually been around for sixteen years, open up with some Brutal Slammin' Death. I've got some old Putrefy somewhere, namely their Lust So Vile EP from 2002, which was a nice release, and to this reviewer sounds like a more Brootalized version of something like Barefoot and Hungry by Cock and Ball Torture, but unfortunately marred by dreadful glottal vox. Despite line-up enshufflements since, then new stuff is along similar lines, wrenchin' out a lot of highly accessible, easily digestible slamfun alongside explosions of breakneck blastulation, but with far superior vox this time around.
Good vox or not, this stuff is, overall, rather predictable chug-fodder. A typical song involves a succession of similar ideas combined in slightly different sequences, perhaps first furnishin' you with a compact set of drivin', writhin' grooves, perhaps introduced by a small bit of segmented chug-a-lug mechanism afore pullin' the rug slowly out from ‘neath yer feet durin' a segue into imminent chugment, so you know upon exactly which beat you'll be plunged into the first Brootal quag-pond. Havin' been dragged thru that stagnant morass for a while, the speed picks up again and includes some faster, swirlier riffage sprinkled with pinch harmonics (natch), afore perhaps bringin' back one of the original grooves, then droppin' you into another torpid pool, luggin' you thru that at an even slower pace, before roundin' off the tune with a sudden burst of blasty energy. A heavily downtuned, mud-muted guitar churns out the sludge-ravine slam riffs, whilst clackety percussion solidifies it so it resembles a cracked, greyish surface, with dense patches of vokill weeds sproutin' all over it. The vox themselves involve a lot of burbly chokes and very deep swine-style suck ‘n' puff, which are of course ten a penny these days, but solidly executed nonetheless. Call it derivative or repetitive or plain ol' shite, but this stuff has enormous flow and many undeniably catchy riffs, so it's very easy to become engrossed in it.
This stuff spits fetid ol' lumps o' Fleshgrind, spews steamin' chods of Devourment and has a serious case of Internal Bleedin'. The re-re-regurgitated mess has a greyish Mortician colour, and there's a lot of Putrilage floatin' in it, along with some Soils of Fate style thug-chug chunks, many in an advanced state of Malignancy, some of which bein' already half-Digested Flesh. Sorry about that shite, couldn't resist it!
Production is good; big, beefy and resonant, which, coupled with the aforementioned fluidity of the material and despite the subterranean tunin' methods, manages to elevate this stuff away from the stodgy clag-pan above which it dangles so precariously. The kit sounds a wee bit flat in some places, but sounds very natural compared to all the trigger-packed drumsounds doin' the rounds. Themes involve down-to-earth depravity and violence, like the chucklsomely titled “Slurping on Cuntslap”, or “Cranium Smashing Brutality (Mutilated Slutfuck pt. 2)”.
This bit o' the split is a typical Brootal Death chugmash, but its persistent, forceful approach, extremely tight delivery, huge momentum and very good production job makes it worth at least a few listens.
Very new London two-piece, Blasphtized, featurin' the guitarists from the current Crepitation [review] line-up, also play Slammin' Brutal Death, and describe themselves as Ultra Pounding Quantized Muck, which is fair enough considerin' the highly-clinical prog-drum clack on their bit o' the split. This suits their type of sound well though, ‘cos it's very segmented, formulaic blocks of linear slugpit belligerence, capped with faster passages of scale entanglement and barbed wire-string squall.
Vast blasty parts containin' some moderately elaborate rapid-riffin' take you along a series of three or four minute journeys, jostlin' you along with strobin', occasionally widdlesome aplomb, but then go and ruin everything by blunderin' straight into the most characterless chug riffs imaginable, which is further exacerbated by the addition of extended jun-jun-jam sessions, full of braindead (non)progressions and eye-rollingly foreseeable pinched harmonics. The vox swap between some very nice, resonant gutturals, full of bile-spittin' bite, and some rather strained, chalky-soundin' reeees that sound a bit underdeveloped, plus a splash of moist, throaty snarls. Some of the patterns are quite titillatin', with the different styles tradin' off some very silly pig-vox arpeggios with each other, also addin' some slobbery chop wobblin' to enhance the amusin' effect.
What with the overload, smoke-belchin' drum-machine and elaborate edge, this is a like Ancient Necropsy and Insidious Decrepancy crossed with fellow UK duo, Twitch of the Death Nerve, along with a bit o' Retch. Some of the funny vokill patterns and gob-wobble techniques used remind me very much of those spewed by Messrs GEK and Pierce of Crepitation, but without their preposterous, otherworldly tones, whilst some of the higher, gunge-spittin' vox are like some of those yammered out by lovable Anal Blast degenerate, Don Decker. In the blander sections, I was unfortunately reminded of Guttural Engorgement [review] and maybe even Malodorous [review] what with it bein' drum-machine-driven, but I think the addition of those daft vox also embellishes the dull-chug noggin-drill as a light-hearted thing, allowin' the listener to smirk thru the slams.
Their production is nice and clear and scythin', with some well rounded guitars and a punchy kit, with very warm vox levels and a crisp and crunchy overall sound.
Can't make my mind up about this really. Some of the faster, more involved guitarwork is often quite captivatin', especially when it forms the basis for a sizeable song section, and the percussion is hilariously over the top but there's always the nigglin' thought of the cloddish, club-wielding chugment that's waitin' for you just around the corner. Still fun though.
New York band Vomitous Rectum wrap things up, with lead-heavy, head-poundin' Technical Brutal Death, vacuum packed with lots of hefty blast, slobbery vox and whirlin' riffs that're sure to whisk your skull contents into a fluffy grey mess.
The guitarwork is ambitious and experimental but a mite clunky in parts, but of course makes up for any slip-ups with all of that relentless, bone judderin' powerstrum and rapid trillment. It does wrench out slampit-instigation, but not in a crude and rudimentary sort o' way, always breakin' up any potential chug-monotone with flashy dynamics, lots of solo-string laden passages of sheer fret-malevolence and even some tongue-in-cheek bits o' virtuosity. A good example o' this is "Of Flesh and Blood" which bludgeons off down a very threadbare chug-path at one point, but then lightens the mood with some hilarious axe-hero fret-posturin'! Drums provide robust backin' rattle and thud-support with some keen fills, but I think a bit more cymbal smashment would've livened things up a treat. Vox are indeed masterful, remainin' very deep, moist and guzzly most of the time, disgorgin' a few different, but no less gruesome pitches along the way, without losin' any of their bowel-upsettin' guttural power durin' their delivery.
This reminds me of a fair few bands who inhabit this sort of Brutal niche, which involves poundin' riff-bludgeon and barbaric chugbouts, generously besplashed with gunmetal shades of spiteful solo-string head-curdle; they'll crunch your cranium into small fragments with jun-muted thug-chords, as well as whirrin' right into the pinkish mess with drill-bit leads in order to splurge yer red tatters of brain tissue all over the place. Thus, I could hear the corrosive, chunky bite of Gorgasm, the concrete block chugment of Fleshgrind and the rumble of Liturgy overlapped by Arsebreed and Bound and Gagged, some of Cenotaph on Pseudo Verminal Cadaverium, with a wee bit of very early Deeds of Flesh, but only if you transposed the riffs up into a much more malicious key. Or something. Oh, and Suffo, obviously.
Their production is quite good, with a robust, pleasantly panned kit, with the skins ambushin' your ears from all angles, but the guitars sound a bit waspy and distant in some parts, and then suddenly jump right to the front in others, which also affects the vox. This isn't necessarily a negative thing, seein' as it does add an element of chaos to the atmosphere.
There are a lot of very standard slam moves on here, but broken up by some evil enwiddlement, most of which is also fairly standard, but together the thing works rather well and has a fair bit o' potential. (Mostly) good stuff.
Overall, an enjoyable Brutal Death split, which despite its significant number of rubbish slams, still has plenty of good moments. No …Slamfest then, but definitely worth lookin' into if you're a fan o' Slammin' Death.
June 18th, 2008
    
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