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Release Date: 2005 Record Label: Every Day Hate /Fat Ass Records Track list: Band Website: Patologicum
Release Date: 2005 Record Label: Every Day Hate /Fat Ass Records Track list: Band Website: Gruesome Malady
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Patologicum - Blasphemous Beef/Gruesome Malady - Aura of Atrophy Split CD
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Patologicum: Piotr - Vocals |
Gruesome Malady: Vikram Bhat - Drums, Vocals |
Here we are. A short and decidedly ramblesome split release, in which two bands commingle their efforts in the rotten operation, each proffering their attempts at rather extensive developments within each of their self-carved sub-genre niche categories.
It's up to dear ol' Patologicum to open up the show, and I must say I was left more than slightly disenchanted by their efforts here. Whatever happened? I was kind of expecting a continuation of the excellent Hecatomb of Aberration, more charmin' Neanderthal beats, simple 'n' undemanding structures, severe blastin' and delicious downtuned debauchery, so that's probably why I ended up a bit disappointed. Indeed, I do try to place importance on how my favourite bands and artistes need to make necessary modifications to their grindin' inventories, revising their songwriting, timbre and performances wherever they feel necessary, without trying to freeze them within the role they played on the track or album with which they captured my attention in the first place. Now then, their compositions are undoubtedly threatenin', competently written and delivered with much grindin' gusto, making for a semi-infectious set o' tracks. However, I think they've become a mite confused with which path to saunter along during their journey towards total Broootality. Goregrind? Grindcore? Brootal Death? Deathgrind? It's certainly a tricky crossroads. Of course, many bands decide to hike along all four of these and further, often to great effect. Whichever direction Patologicum have opted for is irrelevant really, because this release has ended up rather chaotic, indistinctive and unexceptional! Where tracks on Hecatomb of Aberration were based squarely on enormously tight, robust steamroller chug-cycles, the heavy machinery utilised in this recordin' was obviously operated whilst drowsy. With the Patologicum personnel asleep at the helm, the once invincible vehicle careers out of control, blundering rather than bludgeoning into unfamiliar, ineffectual territory, grindin' any grindworthy grind potential to a grindin' halt as the battered hulk of once gleaming chrome comes to a rest in a big ol' bewildered heap, hissin' and steamin' half-in, half-out of a deeply uninspirin' ditch. Although the guitars start out by proffering a few worthwhile crush-hooks, they never seem to fulfil their purpose by the time they descend into non-specific chugment, with the rhythm section falling into a similar claptrap trap, with click-clack blasting and over-granular bass that usually suffocates any listener comprehension of the faster parts. The vocals do allow some of the tracks to redeem themselves though, spewing thoroughly odious guttural spatter-matter all over the place, but I'm afraid it's not quite enough to winch these tunes out of the insipid swamp in which they wantonly wallow.
On Hecatomb of Aberration, the band employed an extremely effective formula, mimicking the bawdy bondage of classic Cock and Ball Torture, flingin' lots of LDOH filth about the place, along with a few blobs of Exposed Guts, whereas on this release I'm unsure who I could compare them to really.. Maybe something along the lines of a dust covered, forgotten ol' Squash Bowels vintage, or the more jumbled arrangements of Oxidised Razor or Castrado Cadaver. A blunt Meatknife, perhaps.
My other frustration with this is its use of intros. Now, I'm not vastly averse to intros, because I enjoy them to a certain extent, depending on the manner in which they are applied to the tracks. I must say my preferred type of intro to any song is the short 'n' punchy kind, giving us no more than five seconds of pertinent, amusing spoken word before ploughing headlong into the song. Unfortunately, Patologicum have adopted the tedious, long-winded type, opening up each number with lengthy, directionless film-clips that add very little to the tracks. Maybe they felt obliged to fill out their side of the split due to a limited playing duration, but the time spent waiting for the intros to end dampens the overall punch of the songs when they finally kick in.
Unfortunately then, this is a forlorn heap of trite Gore-tripe, that certainly doesn't demand repeated listens. However, I don't think I'll give up on Patologicum just yet, cause I know full well that they're more than capable of much better material than this.
And so to Gruesome Malady. This stuff is very similar to the material that appears on their split with Mortuary Hacking Session, so those who've heard it, or read my review of it, will know to expect another bout of contorted, tortuous audio-torture. As before, it's chock full of blocked off, clogged up structural fret-cack, laying widdle upon widdle and waffle upon waffle, the ensuing twaddle leavin' the listener thoroughly baffled.
If you're heavily into extremely puzzlin', complicated Goregrind, then I'm sure you'll derive plenty of enjoyment from this release, but if it's a nice, digestible pile of suppurated guts that you're after, you'll probably be far better off skipping back to the Patologicum tracks. Now, I'm more than partial to technical music, but if, and only if the songwriting encorporates plenty of measured 'n' memorable breakdown-apexes to counteract its complexities and enough reasonable rhythms to corroborate its convolutions. Such catchy sensibilities clearly do not concern the Gruesome Malady boys, cos most of the material on offer here is an impenetrable tangle of uncontrollable, writhing digits, bleedin' all over their frazzled frets 'n' worn-out strings. Like the split with MHS, the odd Gore-nugget or two does glint invitingly from in amongst the stinkin' quagmire, but always gets pounded into powder in seconds, butcherin' any structural potential with anomalous arrangements and directionless, off-time absurdity, leavin' behind knotted-up heaps of mangled time signatures and gratuitous guitar aerobics, all smeared in gloat. The disjointed drumwork doles out broken-up blasts and off-beat kicks, further hamperin' the arduous digestive process that followed my intrepid attempts at masticating this big ol' pile o' suduous, fatty tubes. The vokills are wonderfully putrid, but they're just slapped over the tracks and pitchshifted far too low to create any memorable vokills patterns.
The cover of old skool Gore favourite "Boneyard" by the wizards Impetigo might've been of some entertainment, but it's slaughtered by those pesky, incoherent blasts and overbearin' guitar brio, with the lovely lyrics all but drained of their necro-cheezoid charisma by the slapdash vokill backsplash.
I must say I found their distinctive sound and frozen, morgue atmos quite charming at first, but it displeased me this time around; a shame to see their irrefutable axe-flair undermined by inanely illogical songwritin'. In taunting the listener with small but delicious gobbets of enjoyable Gore, the duo prove their aptitude for worthwhile grindin', but insist on sloshing noxious toxins all over the palatable bits, so a good bit o' structural reshufflin' would clearly work wonders for Gruesome Malady. A unique sound for sure, but they needs a heap o' creativity before any of their work is worthy of a purchase!
June 7th, 2007
    
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