Blue Holocaust - Twitch of the Death Nerve (2004)

I'd like to point out that giallos and other niches within the medium of cult horror films are known for possessing unique, chilling and quirky scores that really tend to stick with the viewer or listener and help them identify nostalgia for that period and style. As well-intentioned as many extreme metal bands are, and there's no questioning their great taste in the underground or the extremes of cinema, I feel that a lot of the basics of a style like grind or goregrind simply do a disservice to such themes since they come across as puerile and spastic bursts of generic riffs that are played fast simply because they can be. Sure, both of these things have 'extremity' in common, but the one doesn't really reproduce the palpitating dread and shock of the other, no matter how many samples you add, or how much your lyrics stick to the script.

The Blue Holocaust full-length debut Twitch of the Death Nerve suffers heavily from this. Basically there is or isn't some sample of distress from a giallo/slasher film, and then a subsequent eruption into about 30-60 additional seconds of insanely noisy chugging, hoarse distorted snarling and growling, and whirring beats that have no musical value whatsoever. And then it happens over, and over again, across 32 tracks in 37 minutes. Sore Throat or Scum without the humor or envelope-pushing of their day. Now I understand that this is a one-man effort, so I'm a fraction more forgiving than if it was a full band equally devoid of any real ideas, but it still sounds pretty awful, even in terms of just seeking a purely caustic and visceral experience. There is not a single riff of any distinction anywhere to be had, and I'm simply not one that can ironically look past that fact and heap empty praises on the material when it has nothing otherwise to compensate. One could very easily write a few hundred tracks like this by plugging in and pressing 'record', offering up some basic programming and just hacking out anything that automatically filters out to your fingers on the guitar strings. I've seen it lauded as 'extreme' or 'sickening', but it's not at all beyond the cover pastiche and the musician's taste in film.

There are single guitar passages off Scream Bloody Gore from 17 years earlier that are more evil and extreme than anything Twitch of the Death Nerve has to offer. Mortician occupies the same style, but at least actually sounds heavy and oppressive. This is only about as menacing as obnoxious radio static. Even the song titles are generally just taken directly from the films to which this album pays homage. "Deep Red", "Black Belly of the Tarantula", "All the Colors of the Dark", "Four Velvet Flies", "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin"...even the title track. I've seen them all, and they all possess a haunting vibe that none of this music does. I will give a little credit that the lyrics themselves, while pretty standard for the brutal death or goregrind niches, are more elaborate than the music, so I think even they get a disservice here. I kind of dig the logo, and that collage of murdered women on the cover gave me the impression this might actually sound evil, but it doesn't...it's dull distorted noise at high velocity, spastic paeans to themes it doesn't ever earn. That being said, there's a second album which was put out much more recently (2018) called Flesh for the Cannibal God. It's not a far cry from this one in terms of style and substance, but it's considerably more effective and utterly leaves this material in the gutter.

Verdict: Fail [3/10]

https://blueholocaust.bandcamp.com/

Squash Bowels - Grindcoholism (2013)

Poland's Squash Bowels have been grinding away since 1994, but in that nearly 20 year period I've only come across their music a few times and probably dismissed it for many of the qualities that usually turn me off from the style: average riffing patterns derived from punk, hardcore, and veteran grind (Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Carcass, etc) set to blast beats, with little distinction or character beyond 1-2 minutes of sheer muscular release. That said, if Grindcoholism is anything to measure progress by, then I feel like they've come quite close to mastering that style and even throw a few compelling riffs in out of left field that help round out the experience. It's definitely got that European slant to the production, with the heavily saturated guitar tone to herald the crushing d-beat grooves, and it lacks some of the dissonant innovation present in another, comparable Polish group, Antigama, but hearing the record come out your speakers is admittedly like holding your ears up to a meat grinder...

Soaked. Fleshy. Brutal. The references I'm hearing most are Nasum and Regurgitate, only with less direct spurts of death metal influence, but beyond that, you're getting a lot of down-tuned chord intervals that reek of the old British stuff in the later 80s...not only the obvious, but some of the note progressions even remind me of a Godflesh if you were to drop the industrial programming and hire on an actual drummer for support. Blasting is the go-to as far as tempo, but outside of those sequences they incorporate punk propulsion, loud and crunching death/thrash riffs and mid-paced double-bass demolition-grind. A lot of individual sections of the album do come across as samey, but there's plenty enough variation to round out 32 minutes, and to give Squash Bowels further credit, they keep their songs substantial enough in duration that you don't feel like the rug is being pulled out from your feet just when a groove or burst is becoming interesting. Vocally they mete out a mixture of traditional Greenway grunts and a splash of the Walker/Steer guttural/snarl mating, but once in awhile the growls get deeper and more pronounced so they give off an aroma of brutal death, and even some toilet flush enunciation like in the title cut.

The drums sound excellent, a rich and pounding palette across which you can also hear the cymbals and hi hat with due clarity; and the bass guitar is swarthy and damp like an overstuffed sewer pipe, giving a lot of that callous industrialized swill and depth to the chord patterns being splayed out above. But it's really the rhythm guitar which stands out the most here, since it's just so fatty and juicy that it soaks through like the listener's ears like the bloodiest of steaks on a paper towel. Granted, I wished for more dissonance here, and more of the atmospheric streaks of noisy feedback that are often hurtled across the gut churning chords. The riffs, while bright and brutal enough to compensate for their simplistic nature, just aren't all that compelling outside of the overall savage context in which Squash Bowels perform. Grindcoholism is not an album without some level of competency, as these guys are old hands in the field, but its a bit too purist for its own good, and doesn't leave much of a lasting taste once the dust clears and your entrails have been stomped and flattened. Which is, for some of the medium's audience, more than enough, especially those into the Swedish acts I mentioned earlier. The excellent, abrasive production and intense drumming are nothing to scoff at, but musically I was left with no enduring impressions beyond the visceral.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/squashgrind

Lord Fuck - Exquisite Gutteral (2009)

Exquisite Gutteral is the type of album I tend to hate...extremely boorish and simplistic US death metal/goregrind. You know the type. More thought was apparently put into the shocking song titles than the actual composition of the music, and there are probably 250,000 bands just like this in the US alone.

Here's the kicker...I actually had a fun time listening to Lord Fuck. It's dumb and simple, intentional, and lacking any memorable riffs or much replay value, but it sounds like it was pretty fun to make. I can almost hear the laughter of musicians in between each take. The old school vibe of the cover and logos is also quite nice. So if you're bored out of your skull and need something to listen to, and you have a sick sense of humor...why not? "Rotting Blood Served Over Mannocotti", "Infant Daycare Car Bombing", and "I Probably Fucked Your Mother Nine Months Before You Were Born" should hit the spot. The band also covers Deicide's "Once Upon the Cross". There are a few sluggish moments on the album, such as the crepitating midpoint of "Rotting Blood..." which can create an almost hypnotic brutality, whether this is intended or by accident is beyond my comprehension.

In short...expect nothing from Lord Fuck, because you will get nothing but a fun 30-ish minutes of banging your head very slowly into a wall while you lower your genitals into a meat grinder. Prepare for anaesthesia and amputation. Beyond that, I can't recommend it.

Verdict: Goresoaked Indifference [6/10]