Cadaverlanche

I've been picking up basically every release that Sulfuric Cautery is on these days. Definitely the grind band that is impressing and exciting me the most as of late. They keep putting out new shit about as fast as their blast beasts with no slowing down, which is all fine by me. This particular tape was put out on the bands own labels, Blast Addict and Feel Good Grind. A live recording, squishily called "Frozen Daiqueri In The Urethra Of Ralph Ferrari", not sure how limited it is.

This tape has since sold out from the label, and it honestly is not something I would call a mandatory release to get from Sulfuric Cautery. If you've watched the video on Youtube of them playing St. Vitus in NYC, then you've heard this. It is however, a fantastic performance, and a good way to hear some of these tracks from the Incinerated and Take That Vile Fiend splits with a much cleaner recording. It's mindblowing to me how everyone in the band can keep up a set this fast. It's a pretty long show too, almost 20 minutes! I really wanted to make it to this show too, I can't remember what the reason was for me not being able to attend. It was a stupidly stacked show, and it's always good to see Ralph down in the city. To this day, I have still not seen Sulfuric Cautery, but this recording definitely shows that they can bring it live. As if there was any doubt of that.

I think there's a couple different cover variations for this. One that is a bit more gory. The tape 

sounds awesome, the soundboard mix is very good and it's nice to hear some more of the riffs pop out more. The Jcard is also printed on a nice sturdy cardstock.

I'll finally be able to see these guys play at Rapid Decay fest in Binghamton, NY in October. Couldn't be more excited!

~VII

Systematically Slicing Achilles Tendons

It took me WAY to long to finally get this split, like seriously way to long. I was finally able to buy one from Suicide of A Species, and finally hearing the whole thing in full my expectations were totally met. I knew this split was going to be brutal, but holy fuck this is some next level grind. Sulfuric Cautery from Ohio, one of the bands impressing me the most these days. And Incinerated, a low-end worship, Mortician style grind band from Australia. Released on a large amount of labels, mostly familiar faces. 33 RPM.

I'll start off with Incinerated, since they won my imaginary coin flip. This is a band that I had never heard of until Sulfuric announced this split with them months ago. I'm not sure why they've done such a myriad of splits with groups from Australia (outside of Australia's trait of producing nothing but insane bands), but they've all been pretty exciting new finds. Incinerated's music just lays waste to everything, this is just complete and total iron-fist-to-face, merciless, brutal grindcore. The low-end will make your guts rumble if you listen to this loud enough, it feels like just about everything is tuned down. The vocals stay consistently guttural, nothing but lows as well. The great thing is that Incinerated actually throw in some insane grooves and slower parts that really knock your shit around. Obviously, there's a ton of Mortician worship on here; the incredibly detuned guitars, constant hyperblasting and breakdowns. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with that right? Completely savage music, goddamn.

Now normally a side like Incinerated's would smoke any other band who shared the record with them. But Sulfuric Cautery without question hold up on their end with six tracks of some of the fastest, chaotic grind I've ever heard. SC wisely/frustratingly don't put any of their recordings online, aside from a lone track give or take. So that special kind of eagerness to actually listen to this whole thing was very aggressive. This is probably my favorite recording of theres to date. It's loud, beefy, the drums are as annoyingly loud as they should be, it is really some of their best. Captured by Doug Long actually. The snare pings out so loudly, and the bass drums almost turn into just a low tone because of how fast they're going. It's chaotic, speed gore at really some of it's finest and most enjoyably fucked up. The real deal right here.

The cover art and design of this package is wonderful. That's some great original art right there. Can't tell if it's a painting or what, but it's a real joy to see and hold.

I feel like this record will be hard to find once it's properly sold out, so buy it now. One of the most brutal records I own! Check out Acid Redux Productions, Misanthropic Ignorance, Lysergic Meltdown, Blast Addict and Grindfather to score a copy.

~VII

Chokin' On Bones

Another Haggus split 7" post today. I've been trying to slowly catch up on all these new records that keep coming out this year. This split 7" with Heinous, an awesome gory grind band from Phoenix, AZ. was put out by a whole crew of labels (Suicide of A Species, Grindfather Productions, Fuck Your Life Records, Morbid Reality Records, and Not Kvlt Records). This is the standard black vinyl press, I couldn't find a clear vinyl copy, 33 RPM.

I'll start off with the Heinous side, which was released a little earlier than this split as an EP called "Four Under The Floor". This definitely stands as my favorite material the band has done so far. The five songs on here just straight up slap. Starting off with the devastatingly heavy track, "Chokehold", which is about as good as a first song gets. That slam part in the middle gets me every time. Heinous are an interesting band for sure; rooted in goregrind but with some war metal riffs and heavy as hell slower, more groovy moments. This is probably the recording that best conveys how great the drumming is live as well, fast and tight as hell. I also really dig the guest vocals on the 3rd track, "Dissected". At first I thought that they were trying out more non-pitch shifted, low and high vocals until I realized that it was Payson from Gimp and another person who I don't recognize. Great, great stuff, I come back to this side often.

On the flip side is Haggus, who give three tracks of fun, bouncy, gory mincecore. More songs with that earlier sound and style. Coming in hot on the opener "Septic Aroma" with a pit starting mid-paced beat and guitar leads. There's not as many blast beats as I would like overall, lots of metal-ish riffs and d-beat passages that kinda just do the job but have a little too much of a bland flavor too keep eating. But it still is hard to deny that good ol' Haggus energy every time.

Got a nice, and tidy packaging job split with both bands different art styles. That Heinous art is so great. Gimme those big, bold, high contrast B/W illustrations all day!

This split should be pretty easy to find still. Again like with all of these Haggus splits, it would rule to have the cassette version as we'll.

~VII

Premature Necropsy

I feel like I keep saying this, but I was very excited for this split to come out and to finally get a hold of it. I missed out on the pre-vinyl cassette release, which would be sick to have since I kinda listen to tapes more than records these days. However, this 7" record is definitely a very much coveted purchase. I actually bought two copies of this record because I thought the first copy I bought got lost in the mail. Here's the Haggus/Acid Feast split, released by Suicide of A Species, Fuck Your Life Records, Grindfather Productions, and Bloody Scythe Records. This tri-color pressing is limited to 66 copies.

I was so excited to hear the Acid Feast side, and it was very well worth the wait. Acid Feast is straight up awesome, I don't think they have a dud release in their whole catalog, this split included. Four new songs and an groovy Ulcerous Phlegm cover to close it out. As usual, the recording is as gnarly as the stench from the putrefying insides of a crypt. Powerful, fast blast beats and crushing riffs with a smart use of groove, and catchy mincecore breaks. The songwriting is just top notch, "Parasitic Infestation (In The Coffin)" for example is just one amazing riff after another, just stomping your brains out. A real stand out track. It's just a pretty dang perfect slab of ugly, gross grind, I love this shit to death. However, very sadly Acid Feast broke up almost a year ago. Word is they have one more posthumous release coming out, fingers crossed! Jim, their guitarist plays drums for a ripping band called Disease now.

This is some of the riffiest Haggus material I've ever heard, with two lengthy tracks filling in their whole half of the record. I don't listen to crust punk at all, but I'm just gonna say that the first track, "Picnic At The Morgue"sometimes sounds like Wolfbrigade. But it has these horror/surf/death metal riffs in the first big verse. Kinda reminds me of Ghoul. It's a fun song I gotta say. Kinda silly, but I'd totally dance to this live. The closer, "Marinating In Coagulated Pus" is more of mincecore stomper, with lots of stops, and a totally rabid closer. Twin guitar leads are included. Awesome stuff, lots of variety and a jump-kick energy.

The front cover is pretty gnarly. 

I was SO happy I found the tri-colored split. It's a thing of beauty, I'm very impressed with how they look.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDE SPLIT! All the distro's I linked above should have this is stock. Please buy it.

~VII

Fascination Of Regurgitation

This wonderful 4-way split was on my want list for a long time. I'm turning into a big sucker for the 4-way splits, particularly ones that stick to the C20 time length like this one. What a great line-up of bands, put out by Ill Faith Records, Suicide Of A Species and Fuck Your Life Records. Limited to 200 copies.

So first up we have Haggus, undoubtably the hottest flame in the newest generation of mincecore bands. These four tracks were actually recorded back in 2015, pretty close to the beginning of the band. The vocals were recorded in 2017 however. This is more of that classic Haggus sound before they became more of a down tuned, goregrind band. Lots of major key, punky riffs, polka beats, and fun, catchy breaks and transitions. This is the kind of sound that made me really fall in love with Haggus back in the beginning, top notch mincecore riffing!
Meatus are up next. For those who don't know this is a long-going solo project from Joe of Archagathus (and Cannibalism, Violet Gorge, Raw Addict, etc). Joe is a grindore madman, constantly creating and recording some of the roughest and most real brutal music. The fidelity and volume level just fucking drops as soon as Meatus starts going. It was shockingly quiet, I had to really crank up my stereo. This stuff just sounds so gross and raw, I have no idea what kind gear you need to record on to make it sound this way. I love it. Completely raw and uncompromising goregrind, with plenty of sick riffs clawing through the muck.

I actually mainly picked up this tape for the Disemboweler tracks, to be honest. Disemboweler is a Simpson's themed, brutal grind group duo made up of Brandon Denetsosie (who runs Ill Faith records and contributes to many grind projects in the Arizona scene), and Chris Tapo, who is by far the person I trust the most to deliver the hardest gory grind I'll hear. This is the real deal stuff, it's fucking heavy, slamming, slapping grind. Just straight up, to the point brutality with punishingly heavy drums, vocals and meat-shredding riffs. Not to mention I always appreciate a good Simpson's sample. Definitely the highlight of the whole tape for me, I really dug this quarter a lot.
The Disembowler side ends with a looped sample that goes on for an almost disorienting amount of time. Which goes right into the rawest portion of this 4-way split, a band called Albratos. I had never heard anything about this band before, and according to their little bio in the jcard they were never really active at all. This quick little spurt of songs is insanely rough and sloppy. Almost like they just never picked up instruments at all before hitting record and just went for it. I can dig that a lot most of the time, but this was just a little bit "meh" for me. It didn't really have that punch in any of the instrumentation that really grabbed me, like a gross guitar sound or a sharp snare tone. Nothing terrible, just not my favorite of this whole tape.

This tape looks and sounds great, a top notch, quality job all around. The red cassette was a very nice choice of color. I also like how both side ends with the much more lo-fi sounding bands. 

There are 200 of these things floating around in the world, so you should have no problem scoring a copy if this interests you. Buy from the labels!!

~VII

Chopped and Slopped

The mash up of Australia and the American Midwest is a beautiful combination. While these regions may be separated by thousands of miles both have scenes that want to create the most punishing grindcore known to man. On this split we have Sulfuric Cautery from Dayton/Lima, OH who have been crushing the goregrind/grindcore game the last few years. On the other side we have Take That Vile Fiend which consists of Brad of Radical Blarghst and has played in bands like Internal Rot, Holy Boner, Super Happy Fun Slide, and more. 

The TTVF side is goregrind to the max. The guitars and bass are a bit muddy but regarding the overall sound it helps, as it gives the recording a super gross sound. The vocals are pitch shifted well and are very deep without getting too lost in the mix. Drumming is on point with tight grooves and mince beats countered with hyper fast blasts. The snare has a nice ping to it that cuts through just right. Each song begins with a sample and because of this I wish there was another song or two as the songs on this have exactly what I am looking for in goregrind. Overall a solid chunk of music that plays through really well. If you haven’t heard their full length "Excreted Brain Matter" it is worth checking out.

On the other side we have Sulfuric Cautery bringing 6 tracks of their signature, over-the-top gore/grindcore. The tracks flow together really well just like the TTVF side. Their side kicks off with a drum fill with possibly the most ridiculous snare drum tone. I say ridiculous but it works well with that sound being pushed so far up in the mix compared to the bass and guitars. Listening to this I wish the guitars and bass were a bit clearer but their tones overall sound great for what they are doing. The songs are jammed packed with riffs and within a short time which gives the songs a very spastic nature without it sounding like disjointed. These boys are on top of their shit and are not holding back at all and it really shows on this recording.

Several great labels helped put this out including Radical Blarghst and Blast Addict which are run by Brad and Isaac respectively. The record is a nice dark blue and plays great. Overall this is a fantastic record and definitely worth checking out. Sulfuric Cautery are making huge waves in the US scene and Australia pumps out tons of great grind. 

~Tyler Hammer

Human Garbage Disposal

I was after the Sulfuric Cautery/Suppression split for longer than I wanted to be. Every day that I didn't have this tape in my hands I died a little more inside. It's hard for an east coast boy like me to find releases from bands like this in the wild. I haven't been able to find any of the recordings on the internet too which made my interest in it all the more extreme. Now I finally have it, I was able to pick it up when I saw Suppression in Detroit, and it's a thing of beauty. 

Sulfuric Cautery are probably underground grindcore's most beloved band right now, and for good reason. They really do take speed and brutality to a whole other level. Some of the craziest shit I've heard in years. I think their side is one of the first that had Trashy from Pizza Hi Five in the line-up. It's fucking great, obviously; noisy, brutal, the perfect fix for a blast beat junkie. Trashy and Ryan spew their respective vocals constantly in a wash of chaotic roars. Issac does what Issac does, the most insane blasting you've ever heard. It's a total slaughter fest from the beginning, to the ending batch of noisecore songs. Sulfuric's mix of complete chaos and precise song structure is in a league of it's own, and this side is a great example of all their strengths. 

Suppression are the supreme lords of their craft right now, a fucked up and lo-fi noisecore/powerviolence/noise rock hybrid. I have no idea how they are able to write this many songs at such a rapid pace, but they do, and here we get 16 total bangers. Legitimate, composed songs with lyrics, each one distinguishable from the last. From full on noisecore, to riffy, fuming stompers. What other band can put pitch-shifted vocals over a twisted Minutemen/Lightning bolt style bass riff and a blast beat and have it be amazing? Another real stand-out is the track "Art in Death"; I adore how the drum rhythm matches up with the delayed and looped bass hits. Seeing how perfectly they pulled the track off live only cements their perfection. It also ends with a wonderful 2 second track, a wonderful final hit.

I love the cover art on this. A wonderful Pettibon style/"The Burning" mash-up. This tape was a joint release by Chaotic Noise Productions, Feel Good Grind, Blast Addict, and Grindfather for the overseas crowd. I suspect Jason from CNP/Suppression had the biggest part in assembling them, as the general layout and packaging is pretty familiar. I also love the groovy, textured boarder on the cassette itself. Little details like that help make releases stand out to me.

In closing, you should already know.

~VII

Organic Refuse

A couple weeks ago while I was on tour, my buddy Ben slipped me a copy of this here tape that he helped release on his label Craniophagus Parasiticus Records. Later on the trek, while we were all chilling in Chicago, this tape was put on in the background. Amongst the clatter, hilarious conversations, and heavy intoxication, the music on here went straight to my ears like a heat seeking missile and I was blown away. Now officially released (also by Septic Brain Tapes and Misanthropic Ignorance), here's the Cystgurgle/Vomitoma split tape.

This split is wet, brutal, hyper blasting gore to the limit! Everything I love about ridiculous goregrind is on this tape, it's all just so good! Cystgurgle, a drum/bass duo from Thailand, are up first for a crushing A-side. This was my first exposure to them and DAMN, this shit is boiling lava hot. This is that supremely fast, super tight, Inopexia/LDOH-style goregrind right here. The drummer is absolutely insane (yes, these are real drums), everything is just impossibly fast. This is one of those rare times where a professional recording actually made this sound a lot better than it would have otherwise. The kick drum and snare hits are pulverising! Same with the vocals and bass, there's obviously credit due there. The bass is a little whishy/washy sounding, I would have liked it a little more pronounced, but when Cystgurgle are blasting away I don't really have a complaint at all. I could listen to this every day!

Vomitoma should need no introduction to people who know gorenoise/grind. Now on it's 10th year, the Vomitoma project has no signs of slowing down, and apparently will only release recordings with real drums now! On this split, the drums were supplied by Adrian from Putrefuck, who does a pretty great/appropriately sloppy job. This whole side is just disgusting, as anyone would expect. Jen's toilet water vocals are some of the best in the game, it literally sounds like the noises melted, human viscera would make going down a rusty drain. WHile the impactful speed and viciousness of the Cystgurgle side isn't quite matched here, the dirty/medical atmosphere on Vomitoma's half is on another level. This is that kind of gorenoise you want to listen to when you want to watch sketchy internet dissection videos, just fabulous!

Everything about this tape was done 100% pro, and it completely looks and sounds that way! The dub is crispy, loud, and certifiably dank. I'm super happy for Ben for helping put out such a beauty!

Any of the labels I linked above should have this available. Don't skip on this, it's my favorite tape of the year so far!

~VII

Traumatic Haematomyella

I bought this tape solely off the Sulfuric Cautery side. I've been pretty slack at getting their releases, but I'm gradually getting around to picking things up here and there. They're definitely one of the more exciting grind bands to come out in the past few years, and hearing about their hyper intense live shows makes me hope I catch them live soon. I had only heard Metastasis and Butcher M.D. by name, but many people with tastes I trust have recommended them in the past so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this tape. Released back in 2015 by Campaign For Musical Destruction, every band is on one side, limited to 50 copies.

Metastasis is up first; a one person goregrind band that gives us some pretty solid tunes overall, but it didn't blow me away here. The recording is super raw, the snare pops out rather loudly, but the cymbals and guitar have that windy/washy sound that sounds like it was recorded on a bad tape machine. The guitars do have a thick tone sometimes, and the drums are performed pretty well, just nothing spectacular.

Butcher M.D., a duo drum machine goregrind band featuring Erwin from Last Days Of Humanity, comes up next and instantly won me over. The better recording quality and rapid blasting was like a gunshot after Metastasis. They are actually probably my favorite band on this tape. The drums sound quite good and are programmed really well, with a nice balance of blasts and mid-tempo sections. Super chunky guitar and bass too, it definitely has an early LDOH sound. Super brutal and crushing in all the right ways, I dig it a lot.

Going right back to blasting raw fidelity, Sulfuric Cautery close the tape out with 4 originals and a Gore Beyond Necropsy cover. I'm heavily fascinated by just how extreme these dudes take grind, the speeds these two reach is just massively impressive and exhilarating. Their songs are almost exhausting, but catchy at the same time. At this point, S.C. wasn't even really doing that much with the gravity blast/hyperspeed blasting like on more recent recordings, and it's still fast as fuck. The guitars are a noisy, blurring mess, but there is obviously a structure to every song. A rad batch of gore/noisecore blasting craziness, can't wait to hear more.

The J card is a photocopied and multi-paneled, the layout looks nice and rough. The tape sounds really good too, all the tape his or washed sounds only comes from the bands own recordings.

~VII

Slowly Melting Away

A beautiful, large haul of great tapes landed in my mailbox today. Finally got my hands on some pieces I've been after for a while. This split in particular is one I was looking forward to getting the most. My appreciation for both of these brutal bands has been written on this site in the past. Here is the Deterioration/Gastroptosis split cassette, released on yellow tapes by Shattered Dreams Productions in 2016. Probably in a run of 100, give or take.

This is some of my favorite Deterioration material, all killer no filler. Kind of "duh obviously" description for their side, but the 4 songs they contribute are a smidge more ear-wormy than most of their split material. Brutal, hyper blasts with tons of catchy cymbal accents. It sounds ruthless and rageful, like someone threw an extra bit of pepper in the sauce. I love the riff at the end of "Fucked Up Device" that progressively gets slower and chuggier. Great stuff all around, Deterioration always keeps it crispy. I'm pretty happy that they did a split with one of Chris Tapo's endless amounts of goregrind bands.

Speaking of which, lets move on to Gastroptosis. One of my very favorite projects from Arizona gore master Chris Tapo. Anything involving Gastroptosis, I'm instantly on board. Genuinely angry sounding and gargantuan goregrind. No one can program some brutal drums or roar into a pitch shifted microphone like this guy. These tracks were made pretty shortly after this project started releasing stuff if I remember correctly. Nothing but quality sounds on their side too. One of the best crafters of goregrind/gorenoise doing stuff right now.

As can be expected with all Shattered Dreams Production releases, this tape is all pro. A wonderfully vibrant yellow cassette with padded logo's on each side. The J-card is full color and sturdy, and the cassette case is even in a nice, seafoam blue color.  

This also was released as a 3" CD-r, but good luck finding that one. I think there was only 28 copies made. I'm definitely keen on snagging that too, haha. It's a sickness what can I say. Anyway, this is a great split and I recommend it, duh.

~VII