Sewer//Geyser

Leading up to the Napalm Death is Dead/Unexamine/Penis Geyser tour that happened in the mid-USA this year, Mikeal from Penis Geyser posted a picture of some naked 7" records. What could this be? I asked myself, eager for the answer because I knew it would objectively be awesome. Low and behold (and thanks to some tips from friends) I found out it was a new Penis Geyser split from Smash Music! The other band, Sewer System, I was unfamiliar with at the time but once I learned it was a solo project of Charlie from Sissy Spacek, my need to obtain it doubled. I was thankfully able to pick it up from Charlie himself when my band got to be on a show with SS. Not sure how many of these were made, they were most likely all pressed on black vinyl. 33 RPM.

Penis Geyser's side is a crazy spewing of violent musical nonsense, thankfully always and forever. Curiously titled "1st Rehearsal Demo", even though it says it was was recorded throughout 2017. It definitely sounds like the Brad/Mikeal duo line-up, particularly from the vocal delivery. Some in the moment singy vocals open the side before the wonderful, cassette fidelity bursts of crashing symbols and quick drum hits, out of tune guitar noise and aggressive vocals. There's several moments where the blasting cuts out and the guys just sort of fuck around, which breaks up the intensity but keeps that "fuck music" etho's alive and kicking. Great stuff, it's always good to hear new stuff from this band.

The Sewer System side is fucking great too! This is that totally raw, gross and dirty, short track worshipping noisecore that I need in my life. Kinda goregrindy vocals here, genuinely beastly and throaty sounding. I'm not sure if there's actual string instruments used here or just noise gear. Charlie does everything as far as I know, except for a few extra vocals that were supplied by some other people according to the (very hard to read) info in the sleeve. Sharp stick clicks and snare hits begin every short track, with a crunchy, low-end rumble underneath furious and powerful blast beats. Each small track more or less sounds the same, and the whole side is broken up to about 7 parts, each part containing a block of tracks. The intensity here is very attention grabbing, I'll definitely be on the look out for more Sewer System releases from now on. 

My coworkers thought that the cover of this split was hilarious, since it's just a picture of John Coltrane with a nuclear blast in the foreground. John Coltrane's the shit, so thumbs up there. The collage art here is pretty sick, it sets an interesting vibe that's for sure. The sleeve is one of those matchbook-style things, with the extra little flab on the end. 

If you're into noisecore you already know that you need this, this whole review is pretty redundant. 

~VII

Garbage Gets Me Hot

I'm a big fan of the whole 4-band split thing. I suppose most people would call that a compilation and call it a day. Personally I say you gotta get up to at least 5 bands for it to reach that "compilation" level. Anyway, four bands on one tape means more bang for your gorebuxxx, and I'm always down for more hot garbage sounds. This tape that Ben put out on the bodacious Craniophagus Parasiticus Records I've been after for a minute. I was happy to finally get it from him in person on the Scab Addict tour. Here's the Twat Slug/Womb Stew/Post Natal Drip/Cutaneous Horns 4-way split.

I've had an affinity for this split since it got announced. It's a stacked line-up, obviously, but everyone really just brings some of their most over the top material. One of the most coward-unfriendly splits I own, it's marvelously filthy. Twat Slug's quarter opens up the tape with four tracks of stomping, lo-fi gorenoise. Cheap, programmed drum beats, bizarre porn samples galore, blown out bass riffs and cavernously burpy vocals. This shit is great, I really adore Twat Slug. This is the kind of healthily porn-obsessed music I can get behind, and getting to see how rad the dude behind it is was really sweet too. The love for hunting down the most ridiculous and wild films, kinda like finding the most unmusical music.  Real freak music, total fetish material.
Right after Twat Slug, shit gets seriously fucking loud with Womb Stew. A harsh, harsh, HARSH gorenoise project from Aaron who ran Fermented Bile Vomit Records. This offering is one of the more pure harsh noise recordings from Womb Stew. I've always admired the projects almost complete lack of separation between pure noise and gore-stylings, but again on this split it's just extra cracked out material. The drums are almost completely buried under the overdriven distorted noise and feedback, absolutely no string instruments by the sound of it. It's a harsh and heavy wall that doesn't let up, the only thing that puts it in familiar territory are the continuous roaring troll vocals. Painful and unfriendly.

Post Natal Drip come through again with another session of drunk, no-fi jamming insanity. Post Natal Drip will rip every cowards face off, as is declared while the band prepares to slam dunk this shit. Completely free, way too overblown, sloppy and wild. Like if Deche-Charge mixed up with Peter Brotzmann. Seriously, the complete bastardization of music here is so on point and in your face, I love it.

And of course we end with Cutaneous Horns, who honestly could not have done a better or more proper job with the closing track. Big ups to starting it off with a good hip-hop sample, again referencing lack of friendship towards cowards. What follows is just pure wetness. I'm almost certain that it's just layers of water under distortion. Wet gorenoise taken to the fucking limit, shamelessly and triumphantly. What's funny is that the way the different samples weave and come in and out, it actually sounds quite nice and somewhat creepy at times.

As is usual with Ben's releases, the tape sounds great, and the whole package looks nice. 

If you can find this you should buy it, it gets a big recommendation from me. Real freak shit.

~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

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

Found In The Mud

Real quick post about another devestating goregrind/noise tape released by some very quality labels. The Arizonian, 1-man, goretank project that is Gastroptosis, and Japan's Oniku. Another excellent 1-man band. This sweet little split tape was released in a total run of 75 copies by Ill Faith Records, Fermented Bile Vomit Records, and Craniophagius Parasiticus Records. I got my copy from Ben of CPR when I was in Toronto last month, it is a single sided tape.

Gastroptosis is yet another stupidly good goregrind/noise project created by Chris Tapo (most notably of Oozing Pus fame), and I love pretty much every new band he starts. Gastroptosis has been one of the more active projects in his roster and one of my personal favorites as well. We get 5 new tracks on here, featuring the usual traits of what makes great goregrind; hard hitting, to the point riffs, thundering drums, horror movie samples and absolutely monstrous, wet vocals. Chris is a master at programming good drums, and while the drums here are a bit buried under the gunky guitars and vocals, their power is undeniable. Great, raw, angry and savage goregrind, so good.

Oniku is a band that I really have not given many listens to (outside of this tape), but every time I do I realize I need to get more of their releases. Five tracks of very solid goregrind, also featuring programmed drums. These songs actually sound very well developed, like some real time was spent writing these riffs and compositions. Strong obvious influences are bands like Active Stenosis, Blue Holocaust and Regurgitate, very chunky groovy riffs with a lot more variety than Gastroptosis's side previously. The recording is a heck of a lot cleaner than the average 1-man goregrind band, it has a real 90's sound to it. There isn't any noise influence at all. While this recording may lack the savage, blown out fidelity I usually like, the quality of this material is undeniable.

Very loud and crisp sounding dub, both bands are one one side as previously mentioned. I'm not sure if the other label's releases are also single sided. 

~VII

Like A Worm In My Liver

Highly highly highly recommended brutal noisecore split right here. A nauseatingly rotten goop pile of a cassette released very recently by Strangle and Amuse Tapes and Hjitrous Tyror. It will definitely go down as one of my favorite splits of the year. Here is the split release by the insanely brutal Chopped of Dick and the up and coming Genital Cancer, not sure how limited it is.

Chopped Off Dick are a fucking great, brutal noisecore band from Ohio that have stuck out to me among the crop of underground bands right now. No bullshit, demented, savage beat downs with a very clear focus on their unique delivery, and also a heavy influence of true crime. Each song uses crude, constantly blasting programmed drums, no frills or fills, just blasting. With a good amount of wretched guitar riffs that have a twisted death metal style, and layers of fucked up gutterals and screams. Like a healthy mixture of early ANb, Mortician, and Mellow Harsher, but fucked up on hardcore hallucinogens. I really dig how the recording quality and even the tone of the drum machine will change from track to track (another maybe unintentional nod to early ANb), and the sheer chaotic blend of sounds that come up on every track make each one unpredictable and engaging, and also sort of numbing. It will sound like a whole other track is invading the one you're listening to, a weird bubbly gurgle or guitar solo will come out of no where, or a wave of other vocal tracks. It's chaotic, fucked up noisecore to the extreme. I love it.

On my copy, even though both sides have their own artist's labels, right after the COD side ends Genital Cancer's side starts right up. The Genital Cancer side is mysteriously blank, which really confused me the first time I played this. But yeah, thankfully GC's side is here and in tact, starting very smoothly by a slow building ambient intro. With a creepy as hell movie sample for a good minute or more until the disgusting gore starts flying. Genital Cancer is raw gore/noise project featuring members of Hypnic Jerk, and their side is brutal as hell. Lo-fi, out of tune, frantic shit gore; the kind of filthy sounds that real, dark bedroom dwelling, horror movie enthusiasts like myself swarm too. It's a good mixture of raw mince, goregrind and noisecore, bonus points for the little hip-hop sample too. I'll be bugging Travis for more material until they release it for sure.

The packaging is just brilliant, and is so wonderful to look at in person. The cover is a silk-screened sticked pasted on the cassette shell, and also comes with a brutal double-sided insert. Everything about this release pops out!

The aesthetic is really on point with this one. 

Please go and buy this great split, it comes with a high recommendation from me. Noisecore lives. 

~VII

Oozing Sarcoptes

A quick little post about an incredibly dank gorenoise tape that I was happy to pick up semi-recently. A short and sweet pairing of some incredibly solid projects, Oozing Pus from Arizona and Sarcoptes from Missouri. Released by the mighty Craniophagus Parasiticus Records early in their existence. No idea what this is limited to.

I've followed both of these projects pretty closely since I found them. Both were still pretty new, like within a year old when this split was made. Fantastic, wet, gurgley, drum machine basting gorenoise, no frills or tricks. Oozing Pus opens their side up with a devastatingly long sample describing a gruesome scene of disembowelment. Whatever movie it was taken from sounds fascinating and terrible. After the long ass sample, the Pus's characteristic bass rumbles and gurgle-roars start booming. The programmed drums, as usual, sound nice and crisp and are perfectly brutal and crude. The sharp, slam snare sound is totally in effect. This project always knew how to have great build-ups and segways into hyperblast moments, it's some wonderfully crafted gore. After four great tracks the side is over before you know it.

Sarcoptes offer 4 more tracks, and it's some of my favorite material from this project by far. More blown out gorenoise, with super bubbly vocals. Again as usual, the drums sound great, but stay within that more realistic realm of drumming. No ridiculous inhuman tempos or anything. The blasts stay pretty consistent throughout all 4 tracks, saving one measly little groovy riff for the tail end of the song. Some of the best sounding recordings this project was able to get, I'm not sure if Austin is keeping it going still. Super solid stuff.

Check it out over at Craniophagus Parasiticus Records.

~VII