[November/December 2006]

GROSS "Web of Stung Vein" Cd

(Divine Noise Entertainment GOD007)
Release date: 2006
Running time: 36:25

Review: It was a while I hadn't heard anything from Gross and this is definitely the best Gross stuff I've heard yet. It was recorded in 2002 but I hadn't heard it prior to this release personally... This is one of the most unique sounding one man band you'll ever hear. This is probably gonna be hard to describe, this is raw, thrashing, noisy, guitar riffs have a weird distorted sludgy metallic sound to them, very dissonant but always sounding quite clear, programmed drums are between midrange catchy rhythms and fast blasts (personally I think the groovy midtempo's work slightly better as the blasts lack a little kick to my taste). All of this is of course led by insane, incoherent snarling gurgling shrieks! Songs can get a tad repetitive after a while but fucked-up tempos, wonky riffs and crazed vocals mix together in a really special way that I dig. This is totally frantic and out-of-whack kind of stuff, so go in expecting anything conventional here. The closest comparison could be with Decomposing Serenity... But this is quite an original, deranged musical creation of its own. Even more amazing is the care given to the packaging art on this cd, as usual with Divine Noise we're treated to a slip-case with alternate art, and the whole booklet is also like a mini-comic book filled with mind-boggling, very detailed nightmarish art by Lee... One of the best one-man bands out there and a terrific artist too, of course this album comes very recommended for every lover of the bizarre!

Mp3 Downloads: "Bloody Blades"

Tracks: 1)Bloody Blades 2)Bred by the Dead 3)Infectious Evil 4)The Maggot Jewel 5)Worm Pit 6)LMaw of Pitch 7)Cut Flesh Flavor 8)Methods of my Death 9)ENriched with Rot 10)Broken SHackles of Sanity 11)Exquisitely Tender 12)Bled my Dementia 13)Zip Lock Body Bag 14)Slit Down the Middle 15)Gallery of Ghouls 16)Swallow her Pain 17)Escatic Deformity 18)Under Zendo's Reign 19)Red Cap 20)Maggots Write in STale Blood 21)Drained Organs 22)Lacerations Envelope my Lips 23)Sliced into Delicacy 24)Black SLime 25)Eviscerate my Meal 26)Green with Envious Decay 27)Beaneth Rotten Hide 28)Embalming Observatory 29)Post Mortem Reunion 30)Demonic Reflection

Links: http://www.divinenoise.net
www.myspace.com/grossband

CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE/BIOCYST Split Cd

(Klysma Records - Klysm008)
Release date: 2006
Running time: 76:50


Carnival of Carnage Review: This is one of Rogier (Tumour) (side) projects... Of course style is pretty much in the same vein as Tumour, nice and heavy bass sound, warm and distorted, programmed drumming, sick gurgling vocals, the whole sewage goregrind thing... Tempos seem to be slightly less intense/grindy than Tumour, and more focused on catchy doublebass drumming and midtempos. The vocals aren't as watery and processed as Tumour and they're also mixed slightly lower, really staying in the background while the "music" is really taking the forefront... Just to give you an idea the bass sound is pretty Mortician-like, that type of insanely downtuned, ultra-heavy stuff... 22 songs in 38 minutes, I can't say I remember much of the riffs, it all felt more like sick, pounding gore & gurgling purulent sludge hammering through my skull! It's got a great fuzzy, visceral sound and some nice driving rhythms that keep you hooked. This stuff is also sprinkled with a handful of intros, which while not really enhancing the songs are simply pretty fun... Of course I absolutely love the cover art, I think it's taken from the turkish poster art of some (zombie) movie, I can't remember which one exactly but I've seen it before, anyway I love that kind of stuff... Another nice entry in Rogier's pretty sick and prolific body of work...
Biocyst Review: Biocyst's side starts with something that sounds like a weird abnormal birth/autopsy report or something, not sure where that's from but it's pretty fascinating, so much I've actually been re-playing that part quite a few times, hehe... Then things get ugly when the first song kicks in... I can only describe this stuff as gore/noisecore, complete with saturating retching gurgles and splattery growls, relentless blasting drum machine beats and a background wall of raw, noisy distorted guitars... A malformed hybrid of Anal Birth & Meatshits perhaps... Alot of these tracks are extremely short, like just a few seconds short although a few select songs are expanded on a little more... A couple of other sick intros are thrown in, they're fun but mixed a little too low compared to the "music" (among other things I spotted one from Cronenberg's Rabid, which had already used by Blood Duster... And the "autopsy" scene dialogue from Fulci's Zombie is also there) I can't say this was an enjoyable listen, but if you like this kind of extreme, obnoxious gore/noise, this one's pretty damn extreme alright. Anyway you can check out the samples to get your own idea! Thank you Klysma Records!

Mp3 Downloads: "Carnival of Carnage - Once More Engaged in Necrophilia"
"Biocyst - Dermaductectasious"

Tracks: 1-22: Carnival of Carnage
23-65: Biocyst

Links: www.myspace.com/klysmarecords

TUMOUR "Goreaholic" Cd

(Klysma Records - Klysm004)
Release date: 2006
Running time: 69:45


Review: Another Tumour release... This full length album opens with a 4 minute song, I didn't remember Tumour being so elaborate and writing songs that long but maybe I didn't pay enough attention... Anyway song structures are actually pretty death metal-flavored here, evidently with a majorly raw and dirty chunky goregrind approach to it but hey, there are actual riffs and hooks here, this is clearly not just noise... I'm hearing guitars chugging very distorted riffage, with helpings of a sick crunchy bass sound, pounding and doublebass-crushing drum programs and very loud, outrageous bubbly, watery, gargling splatter vocals... Sound and the mixing is quite good overall, with nice arrangements and even (gasp) actual guitar solos and stuff or at least higher guitars highlighting some parts in a early Carcass way! The drums sound a little mechanical of course but are overall functionning quite well: this is some all around nice composition work and this cd is filled with quite catchy, memorable songs... The most noteworthy thing with this stuff though is that the riffing is actually really upbeat and fun and songs take some really bizarre melodic bends at times... Honestly I like my grind slightly darker, but this gives this stuff a pretty unique feel for sure. To wrap things up I'd say this is definitely one of the best Tumour releases I've heard so far, musically, sound-wise... And the artwork is also top notch as usual from Jake/Tales From Uranus...

Mp3 Downloads: "In Staat Van Ontbindinge"

Tracks: 32 of them!

Links: www.myspace.com/klysmarecords

ONANIZER "Too Good to be True" Cd

(Lecter Music Agency)
Release date: 2005
Running time: 32:02

Review: This cd starts with a weird muzac easy-listening intro devolving into a grind song played in reverse... Pretty risky way to start an album! Anyhow, the rest of the album is more conventional Death/Grind mixed with a few fun elements... The approach sort of reminds me of Cause for Effect at times although the largest bulk of this stuff is really closer to a band like Inhumate or even Cripple Bastards at times. Sound production is pretty clean, maybe a little too clean, I always need a slightly rawer edge to grab me, and the mixing isn't totally successful in my opinion... The last couple of songs are live recordings which in turns sound totally raw, this time, a little too raw... Vocal stylings are pretty varied with burly growls, sloppy hardcore-type shouts and a lot of screaming too. The guitar riffing is pretty basic with a heavy sound, drumming is pounding and blasting alright... Overall the song writing doesn't really strike a nerve with me, perhaps it free-wheels in too many directions, lacking some focus, the whole thing just never seems to really gel for me and the humor elements especially don't work... But the rest is pretty solid Czech Death/Grind with tons of energy and some nice aggressive vibes, maybe slightly similar to other czech bands like Ingrowing now that I think about it too... The cd includes a nice live footage video clip as extra which is cool... So I'm not totally won over Onanizer but don't get me wrong this is definitely a decent effort worthy of a listen...

Mp3 Download: "About Love"

Tracks: 1)Unsere Mutter Ist Halt Anders (2:46) 2)About Love (1:33) 3)Wo Shiang He I Bei Pigyu Ma (0:57) 4)Blues (1:18) 5)Genocide (Future) (0:41) 6)Queen (2:08) 7)Jessussito (2:23) 8)Keck At (0:49) 9)Conceal Bitch (Light) (0:30) 10)Uhorela (2:05) 11)Bass Fuck (0:53) 12)Eko Feko (0:32) 13)Muhamed Mula Omar Vs. Bashah Masud (2:44) 14)Imhotep (2:08) 15)Abdurrahman Halayi A Ciceklerin Dili (3:05) 16)Jdi Spat (0:49) 17)Commercial Tarts (Live) (2:08) 18)To Be Short Of Shouts (Live9 (1:14) 19)Your Better Self (Live) (2:07) 20)Russsssia (1:12)

onanizer@hotmail.com - www.myspace.com/onanizer

BOWEL FETUS "Death Womb Discharge" Cd

(Prolapse Records)
Release date: 2006
Running time: 28:28

Review: This weird australian one-man project continues to explore its own bizarre hybrid genre that could be describe as something like doom/gore... Kind of a mix of Autopsy, C.U.M. & Lymphatic Phlegm. This is basically sludgy extremely low-tuned doom with long slow-burning songs, a great atmospheric quality to it all as well as sickening, rattling, disembodied gurgling vocals! There are occasional outbursts of blasting grind here and there, but the crushing, ominous doomy vibes are absolutely predominant here... Songs are quite well thought out/composed: overall this is pretty damn original and exciting stuff that can easily get under your skin! I think even the programmed drumming works here because it just fits this leisurely-paced doom style quite well (programmed blast-beats can often turn out pretty fake and lifeless but they're kept to their necessary minimum here) The last 2 tracks are purely excellent movie theme cover versions: Fabio Frizzi's "Zombie" followed by the Nekromantik theme... I always loved that theme, though I always disliked the whole cheesy synth sound it comes with (though I reckon it adds to the raw, cheap, creepy feel of the movie)... Anyway this whacked out, gut-bursting doom cover version of it is simply pure genius and I almost like it more than the original! If you feel like trying out some very unique (who else would dedicate a song to Mink Stole?!) inventive and fresh gore-grinding doom definitely check out Bowel Fetus... This is coming out on Prolapse Records and should be limited to 100 copies...

Mp3 Download: "Mink Stole"

Tracks:1)Kitchen Splatters 2)Mink Stole 3)Death Womb Discharge 4)Theme from Zombie (Version II) 5)Theme from Nekromantik

http://www.geocities.com/bowelfetus/

BURN THE MASSES "Piss and Hate" Cdr

Release date: 2006
Running time: 10:55

Review: This is straightforward, blasting, pissed off Grind from Memphis... They definitely have something of a hateful and slack vibe similar to Anal Cunt or even Dismembered Fetus, though perhaps with slightly more of a more traditional metallic working out of songs... The chugging guitars can get quite death metal-ish sometimes but the band has enough feral, animalistic power and speed to tickle my grind nerve... All fo this and some of the drumming sound and style also reminds me alot of something like Hemdale... Tracks are are all very direct, short and to the point, filled with crazed, angry, roaring, growling, snarling vocals, fierce, grinding riffage, plus a whole lot of mandatory, brief but pretty funny intro samples. Sound is very much on the raw side, slightly rehearsal style and all over the place, the overall mix is just not really loud enough for my taste but still the band's pretty tight and their energy comes across very well throughout the recording... Also noteworthy is a cover version of Napalm Death's "Re-address the Problem", it's not as the original (hard to top!) but anyway yeah great song and cool choice for a cover! In the end, not a disagreeable listen at all, definitely check these guys out!

www.myspace.com/burnthemasses

Mp3 Download: "Everyone In Memphis Should Be Killed"

Tracks: 1)Everyone In Memphis Should Be Killed 2)Pickling two-headed babies 3)Stealing beer from epoch of unlight 4)Seth Putnam Is A Cripple 5)Voluntary Human Extinction 6)Surprise sex 7)Lowlife 8)Donkey Penis Head In Outer Space On Fire 9)Re-Address the Problem (Napalm Death) 10)Mass obliteration (Genocide part II) 11)Killer condom