Holocausto Canibal/Mixomatosis Split - Morbosa Carnosidade Putrefacta

Holocausto Canibal:

Max-T - Vocals
Z.Pedro - Bass
Nuno P. - Guitar
Ivan - Drums

Mixomatosis:

J. "Torment" Marsal - Bateria
Lozano "Death" - Guitarra
Bonillo - Bajo Corrosivo
Marc"Pozilgano"- Gargantas

I was looking forward to hearing this, seein' as I've long been a fan of Holocausto Canibal, especially the exquisite chyme-streaked Gore-filth heard on the Gonorrea Visceral MCD, and have always enjoyed the noisy, noisome Death/Goregrind emissions of Mixomatosis. In fact, back in the Traumatized Records days of yesteryear, I actually managed to release some material by Mixomatosis, which featured alongside some equally repulsive (un)music recorded by Intumscence, all wrapped up in gaudy goreartwork, carved in cheeze by my own wobbly, fetid hand.

Unfortunately, the Holocausto Canibal side doesn't give us any new studio material, instead combining recordings of a gig with Deicide and Arkon Infaustus at Hard Club in Portugal, with a re-mastered version of Gonorrea Visceral.. Still, the live show is an enjoyable listen, whilst faithful fans such as ought to at least find the buffed-up rendering of the old EP interesting. According to the recordin' info, the live set consists of previously unreleased material, but I can remember several of the titles from when they appeared ‘pon the Sublime Massacre Corpóreo disc.

Unreleased or not, I daresay that the ever so slightly woolly ‘n' boomy live sound did dampen the initial engrossment of these two weathered ears. This is usually the case with live Goregrind recordings, but I often find the onstage banter and audience reaction can compensate for this, but they seem to have been abruptly snipped out of this one, which is a shame. Actually, the recordin' is fairly sound considering some of the hilariously bad live sound jobs doin' the rounds on live Gore releases. Top notch production or not, once I had a clear vision of a dilapidated ol' underground metal club attended by a gathering of vociferous, hairy types; walls soppin' with perspiration, sticky mess o' alcohol and discarded filters underfoot, heady stench of stale bodily exudation and beer-faeces, monitors repaired with tape and absolutely no cloakroom, I managed to derive a bit more entertainment from the thing.

Smoothly rollin', suddenly rattlin' drumwork pierced with loud cymbal splashery forms a dense base for the writhing, fuzzular grooves, all wreathed with some burly, pugnacious growls and horrific, glottal shrieks. Their compositions are fairly varied, at least for this type of music, wrenchin' out menacing Old Skool caveman grooves afore tramplin' you to a paste with unstoppable blastular bluster; deceivin' you with mindless two note decoy riffs, before garrotting you with juddering Brootality, with song durations varying from tightly clenched lil' ninety-second ditties to three-minute long Gore-epicks.

It was a treat to hear Gonorrea Visceral again, seeing as I hadn't listened to it for a few years. Of course, the re-mastering job has wiped a fair bit of vital grime from the original, whose lurchin' riffs, solid rhythms ‘n' excellent gutturals were wrapped cosily in the perfect, rot-filled morgue-sound, but its inclusion on the split served as a nice reminder of that Gonorrea… is a glistenin' Goregrind gem! Shovin' the MCD back the studio-gob has resulted in a greater clarity and depth within the resultin' audio-stool, with cavernous reverb overkill on the vokills, greater low-end roar, lovely drum sound and a more balanced mix all round really.

It is apparent to this clogged palate that to create their intoxicatin' offal broth, the band have used early Grind/Gore records by the likes of Impetigo, Dead Infection, Carcass and Napalm Death as a lovely stock, chuckin' in the best chunks o' rottin' choice cuts such as Emetic Cult by Haemorrhage, Blood classick Christbait, Submandible Lymphatic Muscles by Rotting Flesh and maybe Fleshgrinder fave Libido Corporis. This simmerin' audio Gorebroth reeks of some familiar decay, but has just enough inventive songwriting and aggressive delivery to keep the material interesting and convincing.

I first got into Mixomatosis in 2002 when I bagged myself a copy of their split with Brutal Death/Grind blip-act, Mastectomia, which was in the Kolobos Distribution bargain Grind-bin. I enjoyed their crude yet purist methods; gore-garglin' voks, thoroughbred, braindead structures, happily blastin' drumwork and a single minded pursuit of total Goregrindin' mayhem! Unfortunately, Mixomatosis have not submitted any new material for the split either, instead cobblin' together a smatterin' o' tracks from their other split releases, one tune each from their first two CDs, with a few old demos thrown in at the end.

Much of this stuff follows the same sort of splattery formula, and given that it spans a good portion of their discography, this ‘best of' compilation does well to demonstrate a band stickin' firmly to their Goregrind guns (or clubs ‘n' sticks); primeval riffage, bowel-wobblin' bass, crazed percussive bludgeonment and truly disgusting vokill gut-rupture. To this pair of threadbare eardrums, the band share many a stylistic influence with Holocausto Canibal; old Gore ‘n' Grind forms the juttin' skeletal frame of their material, highlighted by their cover versions of Napalm Death, Impetigo, Blood and Macabre songs. Elsewhere, the band dragged me into a slurpin', whirly bog, where I was jolted about the place with blasts akin to faster Dead Infection stuff such as Chapter of Accidents then pelted with putrid ol' slurry like Consumed by Slow Decay by Gore, chokin' on several rotten Gut divots afore I made my sloppy ascent from the smelly surface, to have a bath.

If you're an avid Mixomatosis listener, then you will have already acquired much or all of the material on their part of this split, but you might want to buy this so you can own choice cuts o' their output in a different order on a nice ‘n' handy, bijou compilation! If you're a newcomer, then this might be a worthy purchase to start off with, but I personally think you'd be better off with one of their full length albums.

Much like the new Oxidised Razor album, this split is definitely one for Death/Goregrind completists, especially those on a quest to amass a giblet smothered music collection containing hundreds of thousands of items, shelves saggin' under banks of repellent artwork, horrid logos ‘n' vile music! Inessential.

June 11th, 2007