Category Archives: Italy

Morbid Sacrifice, 2019 Cursed

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Oggi il Dottor Marciume ascolta: Morbid Sacrifice, decent basic Black Metal from Italy, Cursed recordings 2019.
Lim. to 66.

Decorously obscure, almost punklike at times, with cavernous vocals and an excessive pinch of mid tempos that gets sleepy instead of hypnotic. They recently released a full-length that sounds killer when it doesn’t slow down (they do it very poorly), albeit with a logo that has been hideously ravaged by 1999 Photoshop bevel. Could be paired with porter beer and Demonomancy and nobody would complain.
As a side note, this is probably the only good stuff the label released, the rest being Black Oath (fag hippie music) and other mediocre generic black metal.

EBOLA (Ita): “You Know” tape Ep

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AEBOLA You Knowrgh, this is one of those nightmare cases when I don’t really have an idea on how to store a  record. I got this seemingly unknown Cd-r together with a tape cover, so I could either use a deck and copy the songs on a standard tape or store the CD-r as it is in the inextricable forest of CD-r and random formats on my shelf. In any case, I probably lost the envelope and accompanying sheet so I have no clue who sent me, nor any extra details. I can only presume the band is Italian as there is an address of an Italian distro added by hand on the envelope. Who knows. But. It was in the big pile of stuff to review so regardless how it fell there, it deserves at least a note.

This band plays an hybrid of noisecore and black metal, in particolar I’d say the first 3 tracks are definitely more noisy and the latest one more on the traditional side, but nevertheless you can say it’s the same band all the time. The first songs are just a mix of super-distorted cyclical raw noise without any sort of melody, yet if you listen with some attention you can hear there is some structure in the background. I am not much into these screams but I think they complement decently with this raw mass of corroded chords, especially because they tend to disappear in the background. The good thing about the vocals is they sometime turn into bellows of agony, as if someone is being grinded into some machinery. I won’t rate this tape as mandatory, but it’s certainly better than most of the “plastic lame and weak” black metal of today.

 

Emocaust records’ newest goregrind and gorenoise releases

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Emocaust records releases

Emocaust records promo package.

Here we have a tasty little package from this relatively young Spanish label specialized in goregrind, cybergrind and gorenoise. This splendidly bloody package includes

  1. ECR7 VV.AA.:”50 Years Of Gore (1962-2013)” compilation Cd 2013 (this is also a free download)
  2. ECR 9 Cannibe/Septic Autopsy/Infected Gastroenteritis “3 way of Infected Autopsy into the Cannibalism” 3 way split Cd 2013
  3. ECR12 Necropodridal Cadaveric (Arg) “Recolección De Regurgitaciones Putrefactas” ‎Cd-r 2013
  4. – Cunt Pus Ingurgitator (USA): “Impulse To Fuck A Headless Whore” Cd-r 2013

50 Years Of Gore (1962-2013)

Reviewing compilations is always a pain in the ass, and when they contain so many bands it gets nigh-impossible to properly cover them all, so have a listen at the whole thing on YouTube (only 1 song per band, the Cd-r contains more) or download it straight from the label’s website. My copy is numbered so if you want to order the physical one for you, be fast: only 50 have been made. I have no clue what 1963 stands for as the picture on the cover looks like a frame from Bad Taste, but here it is, 50 years of gore!

This compilation has a little bit of everything. Some of the bands have a slightly more Brutal Death feel like Gruesome Bodyparts Autopsy, Losteror or Clogged Orifice, others are more radical gorgrind such as Melanoma, Fungus Infection or Dash the Brain Out, while others yet are stricly cyber grind such as Urethrorroea, Clostridium Difficile Infection, Dr. Aochider and Urophilia (clearly inspired by Libido Airbag) and yet some more deranged stuff like this freaked out Anaric feat. Mr. Pin (?) or noisegore as Terrato Naso Coprophiliac Algolagnia. My favorites in this sea of shit are probably the inenarrable Hydropneumothorax, good cyber shit, and the noisy Turulopsis Glabrata and Ascaris Lumbricoides. But really, there are few weak spots here. All in all this compilation is excellent from start to end.

 

Cannibe/Septic Autopsy/Infected Gastroenteritis “3 Ways of Infected Autopsy into the Cannibalism”

Cannibe is a somewhat prolific band from my country playing some kind of raw, almost garageish goregrind that reeks of bile and disscted homo sapiens. I’d dare to say they have that un-groovy, bulldozer crunch of earlier Dead Infection. We don’t really have that many completely human lineups in this genre today so I am always eager to hear new stuff from them. The seven tracks included in this split are taken live and decorously walk the thin line of totally tape rehearsal sound thanks to their really thick sound that stays distinct all the time despite the obvious limits of the recording gear. There are certainly no virtuosisms in goregrind (thanksfully) and the combination of good equipment and the simplicity of the songs pan out a couple of neat, intelligible tracks foir a total of about 10 minutes. Just as a note – one of the seven tracks is a Haemorrhage cover.

Septic Autopsy from Mexico I know little about except a past release on Human Discount records, but I definitely love this shit. Somehow bands from the southern states always manage to recreate a real musical massacre properly mixing an intricate stop and go madness of churning riffs and gargling vocals. They migth remind a bit of a more goregrindish, earlier Disgorge, with their amazing atonal and unpredictable and yet brutally in your face intermittent tempo changes. This is one of those bands that makes you feel what it is to shove your hand in a blender with a nasty sick, dense sound and not a single second of breath.

Infected Gastroenteritis from Greece has definitely stronger “digital” or “cyber” component compared to the previous two. While Septic Autopsy too use a drum machine it does not sound as artificial as it sounds in these tracks. The vocals are an heavily distorted roar, oscillating above a carpet of hyperfast drum machine beats. There are also a couple of samples between the songs but they don’t overlap with the tracks, they’re just used to separate the short songs. While the first tracks are more noisy a la Autophagia (just to stay in the neighborhood) the last ones explore the territory of liquid-gorenoise like Urine Festival and Tumour. This is a band which probably hasn’t explored its full potential.

Necropodridal Cadaveric

Necropodridal Cadaveric is a brand new band from Argentina and as far as I know this might be their only official release available at the moment, which luckily collects also their 2007 demo and a previously released split EP (with SESOS TRITURADOS). The most relevant thing about this album is the absolute primitivity of the songs. The structure stripped to a minimum and the drumming blasting basically with no precise direction chumming up with cricket vocals in short bursts averaging one minute or so. I like the barbarism and almost vulgar austerity of these songs even though I am not much into the cricket style vocals which better fit US slam bands which is a genre I don’t follow much. The vocals however are not always as static as a boulder, and when the slightly more open roar chime in, the recipe works rather well.  For some reason I found myself enjoying even more the older demo tracks which have a low quality, sick texture which if fundamental for this genre. There are also a couple of bonus tracks at the end with a different sound than the earlier ones, probably recorded in a live session. Good shit, anyway.

The Cd packaging is rather good, like the other Emocaust releases, being a collection of decomposing corpses and rough surgical dissections.

Cunt Pus Ingurgitator

Here is another 50+ tracks from that morbidly prolific guy known as Bob Macabre (including a previous 2012 demo “Slicing A Corpses Vagina”. This guy has released more albums, demos and splits in the past two years than Nun Slaughter, Sabbat and Agathocles combined. This means at least that he is aware of the sound he wants to recreate. His project CPI is pure gorenoise, the kind of stuff that a dozen years ago could have been released by Fecal Matter Discorporated. I generally enjoy this shit: it is chaotic, noisy, chock full of imprecisions of mistakes that add consistency rather than spoiling the songs. Thanks to these leaks and imprecisions the music raises to a level of variety that the drum machine could never guarantee. “Impulse To Fuck A Headless Whore” ‎ is a bit faster and way less varied than stuff from, say Anal Birth or Biocyst to name two, but the songs are so short (the whole Cd-r is 33 minutes long) that this is scarcely an issue. For lover or multilayered noise with a porn-gore imagery.

Necromutilator (Ita): “The Devil Arisen” promo tape 2011 Cold Vomit

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Neromutilator's tape "promo"?

Neromutilator’s tape “demo”?

They handed me this tape promoting it as “death/black” and while I ever married any genre Death/Black Metal generally speaking works for me. Not this time tough. I like raw and primitive, but what I mean when I say that is generally raw and primitive as in Von, not as in “college rehearsal”, eh.

The be completely honest there is nothing entirely out of place here, barring, ahem, the riffs. These songs (I am not sure if this is a promo tape or a tape album) could be summarized as Hellhammer playing Death Metal in a rehearsal room with session member from the local garage punk band. While primitive and graced with really good death vocals (hell yes, good mix of raspy and deep), the Motorhead-like pull isn’t really working out well here, it just doesn’t click. This, coupled with the kind of rehearsal sound that spoils the thickness of the sound instead of giving it an edge of rawness, summarize a scarce 5 points in my book. The concept is good, and the idea of bringing early Hellhammer-like metal into Death Metal ground is cool, but I would rather start chopping off the sloppier riffs and keep just the better ones.

EDIT: I got confirmation that this is actually a “demo” tape.

 

LACERATER (Ita): “Nessun Urlo Nell’Ombra” demo Cd 2007 s/p

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lacerater-nessunurlo

I forgot the intense pain of reviewing a Death Metal Cd whose lyrics are sung in Italian since maybe… Resurrecturis? Ouch! In any case, this promo comes with a decent pro packaging and full color slimcase. I won’t indulge right now on the cover art which, while interesting in concept (maggots are always cool), is arranged quite awkwardly (something just seems out of place), so I jump straight to the inner side where lyrics are printed (think font on a dark background, my eyes thank you). I have to stress it: am really uncomfortable with the Italian language but I confess that could be  because I never heard a band using the language convincingly, after all if we consider the assonance it can’t be much worse than Spanish or Portuguese right? And we all like South American bands that sing in these idioms right? Whatever.

Yet I also had another, veiled, prejudice on Lacerater since the band is from my city of birth, and despite having been close to that scene since the very beginning I can’t honestly claim that a city like Bologna ever shined in the musical landscape. Sure there are highlights in the story of extreme Metal from that city (Crematorium and Euthanasia were quite good as well as some grindcore side projects) but mostly the scene has always been quite flat especially considering the important universities there attract young blood from all over the country. One would expect such melting pot to produce quality stuff by the score, after all.

Well I have to admit I was wrong, TWICE. Not only the songwriting on this demo is rather solid (shoving my prejudices up my arse) but the choice of singing in my language didn’t damage the quality of the product whatsoever. I am still not sure it not to sing in English was a proper choice, but being extreme Metal a form of art I accept it as a thoroughly consolidated and well thought choice. Lacerater surely has some good blasts on these tracks, and the double vocal (growling/screaming) duty is quite intense, but straight out brutality is not the main topic here, it seems this band is mainly interested in writing songs that do have both head and tail and a whole lot of stuff in between with plenty of space for some improvements on the technical parts for the future as well. I have heard bands on Cudgel or Morbid which were way worse that this so I assume it is a matter of time before Lacerater finds a contract. I am reading right now the band is on hold, which is a pity since this stuff is rather good. They are basically ondulating between uptempo riffing and blasting, never giving a real breathing space. I won’t call it Death/Grind, but it is certainly good solid Death Metal with  lashes of grinding fury thrown in. Good stuff, worth hearing.

IMPOSER (Ita): “Divine Intolerance” Ep Cd 2010 Butchered Records

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imposer divine intolerance

Imposer is another excellent band from my land. I haven’t got the chance to hear their full length released a couple of years ago (same NY based Butchered Records apparently) but I suppose the two songs on this MCd are pretty close to that sound. The only recording I had the chance to hear was their first demo-Cdr and that was at the time I still ram a shop, which translates to about 10 years ago. From what I remembered, they had a Krisiun-like sound and I liked it pretty much, but my memory is getting fuzzy on that time. I had the chance to see them live as well, at least twice, and they delivered solid brutal Death Metal the late ’90s way. So here it is: two new tracks plus two covers, or at least I presume it’s two as one is a famous Deicide cover and the other one is by “Heaten/Lifecode” which I think is a local band.

Everything is deliciously packaged: I absolutely adore the cover art as I have a weak spot for icons, symbols and woodcut-like medieval prints. You don’t get lyrics but the overall quality of the layout is quite good. I would have preferred a slightly different, less modern font on the booklet, but it’s not really that relevant.

 

The two tracks we have here are as straightforward as Death Metal can be. I think they might call it War Metal today, but since that was a term they used for “Panzer Divison”-era Marduk I am uncertain on using it. To be clearer: during the end of the 90’s when the whole sound was selling out like a whore all in a sudden we had bands like Diabolic, Centurian, Angelcorpse, Throneaeon, Infernal Torment, Exmortem etc. and Satan incinerate me if Imposer does not fit that school of relentless Death Metal without frills. It was a scene that exploded out of a violent rejection for the ever mellowing sound that was the rule at the time, and I am pretty sure it was a clear statement of intent. Imposer‘s sound is some sort of cross between Krisiun, Diabolic and earlier Deicide without the wimpy solos, but also skipping the excessively retro-worship of these days. I am pretty grateful we have bands like this going on today. The two tracks that make up the first half of the album are as solid as a boulder, but I have to admit I am not extremely excited about the slight turn they gave to “Sacrificial Suicide” and if there’s a weak spot here it’s definitely the Heaten/Lifecode track, which contains possibly the worse, sloppiest, most moronic riff I have heard in months – what the hell is that mid tempo “happy go lucky” dance? In my book this is no big deal as it’s not a track of theirs yet I am puzzled how they came up with covering this shit.

To wrap things up you can’t really find anything more coherent and proudly War/Death than this in my country. Two songs might be a bit too little to spend money on, but if you want a sample of what this band is capable of, here it is. Fuck god.

PROFANAL (Ita): “Black Chaos” full-length Cd 2012 Iron Tyrant

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Profanal Black ChaosHere it is, we finally delivered. One stays out of the local scene (please don’t start bitching about the use of the word “scene” if you can find another, less sabotaged term to describe a collection of bands playing extreme music within the boundaries of the same country, it’s your problem, not mine) for a decade and when you’re back you suddenly realize your country has produced more great releases in a year than the decade before you started drifting abroad. So this is it: my country is now able to release stuff like this monumental piece of Metal of Death that could as well being recorded in some cheap studios in 1990, with that acrid, crushing sound that was typical of that time (and broadly exploited in books like “Swedish Death Metal” and “Encyclopedia of Svensk Dodsmetall”), by  skinny teenagers dressed in checkered plaid shirts.

Let’s start from the very beginning, though. The packaging is quite nice: we have a tentacled Lovecraftian monster of Seagravean symmetry on cover, and we know that tentacles are very high in the scale of Death Metal subjects. It’s maybe a little bit cartoonish, but I certainly praise the choice of a black and white layout. Hell, you could not go wrong with lineart black and white. Well you can, actually, but this is not the case. Two big surprises await me as I open the booklet. It is 8 pages long (wow, no shitty folding leaflets this time?), and has LYRICS inside. Lyrics, for fuck’s sake, sounds like ages since I read any good ones. The writing may not be the best I have ever read, and sometimes the grammar is not entirely correct or elegant, but here we have DEATH METAL lyrics about suffering, death, grief, zombies, demons – themes that should always be in a Death Metal album. Fuck yes. Thank you, thank you very much.

Soundwise, there is very little to say here, but that is far, far from being a complaint. I might go digging some obscure reference for names of Swedish rehearsal bands of the early nineties, but I suppose Dismember are the greatest and most blatant influence here. I’d dare to go into little more detail and say their sound is a mix of ALL the Dismembers of all eras and not just the early ones (oh and excluding that tragic album I won’t name with the space marine on cover, of course). The uncompromising brutality of Grave is certainly another fitting element of description, as is Carnage‘s hyper-loose riffing and decrepit sound. If I was to play in a band today, I would play this shit, I have no doubts about this. Profanal (which does not stand for Professor Anal if you ask, that might be their pornogrind side project) love real Death Metal and play Death Metal. Swedish Death precisely. They play it with no frills and not a single iota out of place. Metallic, distorted chords with anguishing screams and a bucket of rotten blood smeared all over.

Color me impressed, this is one of the best Death Metal bands we have in this country right now.