Germany’s Cunt Grinder surely give a lesson in perseverance to all those bands impatient of getting a contract on some random label (not that today it’s such a difficult thing). They have self produced 5 (or 4, depending on the source) full length albums so far (!!!) before hitting this 3 way split on Rotten Roll (I am 100% sure this is the second label that I know with this name, the old one was from South America or something – I need to check my archives). Apart from a funny G. G. Allin cover “Kill the Police”, their 8 song share consists in solid, phlegmy Death/Grind with a lot of cool vocal overlapping. I was not able to understand all these fucking German intros but I guess they have to do with some misogynist talk which I always share (ehe). Bitching apart, here is a good dose of classic porno-gore-grind mid tempo chug, the cool thing is that instead of using the standard Dead/Gut sick grunt formula, here we have several sick vocals that overlap and give an overall feeling of bestial orgy. There are actually some faster beats but I won’t define them as blasting. All these tracks are quite cool actually, sludgy without sounding a CBT clone, and enough Death Metal to have a concrete structure. I’d give them a 7.
Satan’s Revenge of Mankind (always from Germany) instead didn’t impress me much with their previous full-length album, so dangerously close to the plainness of the routine goregrind of Space Shiters. These tracks, however are somewhat cooler. The snare drum has now a sound so damn clanky that it makes Pungent Stench sound like Sepultura, but I still like it. The sludgy, slow parts are deliciously German in style (CBT, Bitch Infection etc.), and actually there are real fast blasts ripping the songs away from a perennial mid tempo. The vocals are grace and damnation of ths side however, sometimes decently frog-like, but at times they really sound a bit struggling -gone are however, the real terrible barks a la Bestial Devastation – thanks Satan! There may be no really memorable moments in this SROM side, but these tracks are nonetheless cool German mid paced fun – optimal for slamming rhytmically the arms in the air like an idiot at a beer fest. Good shit to hear when drunk, even if even I have to admit this stuff is a bit inflated these days. 6.50 in my book.
In my opinion Hymen Holocaust (Holland) hits the right spot a bit harder than the two disc mates. Their sound is so sick and sewage, the distortion fermenting with rot and grime, I cannot but feel some sympathy for this son of a bitch. The riffs are actually a bit boring taken singularly, but the song flow is reinforced by the messy sound and a super sick array of gargling vocals. This is a band that plays Goregrind the way I see it, with a disgusting vocal style that really sounds as if the singer is about to puke anytime. I have no idea how artificial they are, but the final effect is quite good. To tell the truth, I am not a huge fan of Cliteater, and to me this Hymen Holocaust project sounds a bit better than the main band. Contrarily to the previous bands also, there is no sign of bulldozing German chugs, but have instead a more omogeneous Brutal Death/Grind sound with some slow chunks of slam galore scattered in. Seven fifty, sir.
The layout of this Cd is cheap beyond belief, main weak point of this release. As normal for recent goregrind releases, it just looks cheap. The choice of colors is appalling, and even if for once all the images seem to be the right resolution, the way the elements are placed are almost as bad as old Necroharmonic Cds. I guess it’s time for goregrind to start curing a bit more its looks.
Whoa! Gonkulator is a band that makes Revenge sound as polished as Oasis. No kidding, I seriously doubt you can find something as filthy and unrefined as this band – it should not surprise Charlie also plays in a band generally associated to punk/grind sonorities. For unrefined I do not mean just badly recorded as in early Burzum or Striborg – as if someone poured water on the speakers – nay, that’s filthy but also weak. Gonkulator is filthy to the core, as if GG Allin tried to play Black Metal with a cheese grater. With all this shit going on, how could one not like them? You must be open to really bad production and extremely basic music writing, but I personally found this Ep entertaining. Drumming is just little more than violent beating, and the riffs just a noisy scattering of chords, but hey man, the spirit is alive here. The vocals are a bit too filtered maybe, but they just blend to perfection in the chaos vortex that crackle and fizzles all beneath. I really don’t know how much tongue-in-cheek humor there is in Gonkulator, but they’re among the coolest Black Metal bands around these days, just crazy and chaotic, and uncontrolled like the art of the Devil should be. Too bad it’s several years I don’t hear of them. The packaging is decent to my appeal, and includes a good fold out artwork by Scott Lewis. All in all super cool shit. Respect!
