Goddamn, it’s been almost two years since the last installment of OOB! Of course my YouTube channel has been covering much of what I’d normally cover in one of these for the last little while, but whatever the case, it has been far too long since we’ve rounded up all things brutal and bludgeoning in one convenient spot here at the THKD mothership. So without further ado, let’s break out the shovels and start digging…
Corpsegrinder – s/t (Perseverance Music Group, 2022) Hot off the success of Cannibal Corpse’s excellent Violence Unimagined, vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher has decided to strike out on his own with his first solo album, appropriately titled Corpsegrinder. Produced by Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta and backed by guitarist Charlie Bellmore (Dee Snider, ex-Toxic Holocaust) and drummer Nick Bellmore (Dee Snider, ex-Toxic Holocaust), the album is a catchier-than-herpes thirty-two minute slab of death metal, but it ultimately suffers due to the fact that it lacks the merciless, pummeling brutality and frantic yet precise technicality of prime Cannibal Corpse. Granted, it probably isn’t fair to compare what is likely just meant be a fun one-off side project to the mighty CC, but when you’re working with the vocalist for one of the best death metal bands on the planet, the comparisons are all but inevitable.
Indeed, Corpsegrinder might not quite measure up to the impossibly high standards of the likes of Violence Unimagined, Vile or Kill, but it’s still plenty enjoyable thanks to the memorable if simplistic songwriting and Fisher as usual puts everything he’s got into the vocals on tracks such as “On Wings of Carnage” “Crimson Proof” and “Defined by your Demise.” The Bellmore brothers do a fine job of laying down tracks for Fisher to growl over and most of the cuts feature a refrain or riff that will at least get lodged in your skull for a few days, even if they won’t completely hammer smash your face.
As expected, Corpsegrinder sounds great; every instrument is allowed space in the mix and Fisher’s vocals are front and center without being overpowering. If there’s one gripe to be had, it’s that the guitars could use a wee bit more heft in order to fully maximize the skull-cracking heaviness the album is clearly aiming for. Given the appearance of death metal uber-producer Erik Rutan on “Acid Vat,” it might have been wise to have him stick around and assist with beefing things up a bit more ala the last few Cannibal Corpse albums.
Cannibal Corpse diehards will no doubt want to add this album to their collection based solely on Fisher’s involvement, but for the casual fan, Corpsegrinder will likely fall into the category of an amusing but ultimately inessential listen.
Bludgeoned – Summary Execution (Vile Tapes, 2022) Hailing from Shelton, WA, Bludgeoned are something of a supergroup in the making, featuring seventeen year old brutal death metal wunderkind Nikhil Talwalkar (Anal Stabwound, Undeciphered) on drums, ex-I Declare War and Pathology vocalist Jon Huber and ex-Covidectomy guitarist Sean May. On their debut EP Summary Execution, the trio whip up a ferociously fun slab of slamming brutality that will have you headbanging uncontrollably, throwing the furniture around and swinging dead cats in no time.
Bludgeoned don’t do anything you haven’t heard before on Summary Execution, but it’s how they do it that makes them stand out from the brutal death metal pack. Each performance is nothing short of topnotch; Talwalkar is a prodigy on the drums and his relentless attack drives the EP forward, while May lays down some totally sick riffage that makes him a guitarist to keep an eye on, and it’s always a pleasure to hear Huber’s impossibly deep vomit vox spewing flesh-eating acid over everything that gets in their way. These guys know how to bring the pain in ways that are as memorable as they are vicious and the band sounds lean, mean and hungry throughout the EP’s all-too-brief run-time.
Although Summary Execution doesn’t even surpass the fifteen minute mark, it’s enough to know that these guys are onto something great and it’s only a matter of time before they get picked up by a bigger label like Severed or Comatose and grind us all into fucking powder with a full length. Until that day comes, songs like “Circadian Servitude” and “Genocidal Processes” hit hard enough to make your soul leave your body. The EP is out now via Vile Tapes and limited to just one hundred copies, so don’t sleep.
Fatuous Rump – Perceptions of the Dark Ornaments (Lacerated Enemy Records, 2021) What exactly is a “fatuous rump?” The world may never know, but what we do know is that Fatuous Rump is yet another product of the sick-ass mind of Larry Wang, the man behind Gorepot, Facelift Deformation, Lesbian Tribbing Squirt and roughly one billion other really gross projects that mostly appeal to weird, pale-skinned basement dwellers that can’t wait to tell you about how they own all three of Cock and Ball Torture’s full lengths on vinyl.
While Perceptions of the Dark Ornaments is a fine enough bit of slamming brutality, it ultimately feels a bit run-of-the-mill in comparison to some of Wang’s other projects; Fatuous Rump lacks the bizarre humor of Gorepot, the ferocity of Maggot Colony, or the grinding perversity of Lesbian Tribbing Squirt, and at forty minutes it’s just too damn long for such a bog standard slam album. Additionally, the slams aren’t particularly memorable and the songwriting as a whole feels rather lackluster.
At the end of the day, Perceptions of the Dark Ornaments isn’t a bad album, it’s just kind of there and doesn’t really do anything to differentiate itself from the five thousand other slam albums being released every month that sound just like it. File this one under “for slam ultra-ultra-ultra fanatics and Larry Wang worshippers only.”
200 Stab Wounds – Slave to the Scalpel (Maggot Stomp, 2021) Alright, now we’re fucking getting somewhere! 200 Stab Wounds’ debut full length got hyped to the high heavens last year, which is why I avoided it until recently; I find in these situations it’s best to wait until the hype dies down. Now that I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with Slave to the Scalpel, I can safely say that it for the most part lives up to the hype. Coming off like a hybrid of the Cannibal Corpse school of OG brutal death metal and the groovy, slamming style of Internal Bleeding, 200 Stab Wounds manage to hit all the sweet spots in just under half an hour, making death metal that’s insanely catchy and compact.
Folks who’ve been following THKD since the beginning know that I’m all about craftsmanship over originality and 200 Stab Wounds are well on their way to becoming expert brutal death metal craftsman if tracks like “Skin Milk” “Stifling Stew” and “Drilling Your Head” are anything to go by. The band wear their influences on their sleeve, but they also take those influences and use them to craft something that can stand on its own; there’s always something to be said for that, especially when the end result is this crushing.
Slave to the Scalpel is one of the better brutal death metal debuts I’ve heard in the last few years and as with Bludgeoned, I wouldn’t be surprised if a bigger label takes notice of 200 Stab Wounds before too long and decides to strap a rocket to their collective back. If these guys continue to hone their craft, they could very easily come to be sitting atop the new wave of death metal heap in a few years time; that might not be saying much when one considers some of the competition, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that 200 Stab Wounds are uh, killing it at the moment and show no signs of letting up.
Well folks, that wraps it up for another edition of Oodles of Brutals; hopefully it won’t be another two years before the next one drops. As always, many thanks to all the bands, labels and PR peeps for sending me stuff to cover, and to all the readers that have followed along despite the erratic publishing schedule. If there are any bands you’d like to see covered in a future installment of OOB, drop me a line in the comments and until next time, STAY BRUTAL.
THKD 