Sarcofaga Canaria - …of Flies and Men

The Fly - Everything

Sarcofaga Canaria is a one-man goregrind band from France from the man who calls himself "The Fly". Buzz. I honestly wasn't expecting much at all and with minimal expectations I put this in my player and exposed myself to its music. Initial impressions were healthy. After taking a deep breath I suspected that "The Fly" had spent most of his time sitting on shits of Cock and Ball Torture and Ahumado Granujo (minus the techno, of course). Then after licking its feet, I came to the conclusion that it had also sat on Libido Airbag's kinky (7th track) and Decomposing Serenity's tiny poop (3rd track) before being wooed away by larger, creamier chunks of Dutch poop like say the ones left behind by Rompeprop (2nd track) and even Cliteater (5th track). It even made a short courtesy stop on Carcass's decomposed excrement which is made obvious by the uncanny beat on the 6th track. The fly sure knows which poop to sit on and makes it fun and catchy for the human victim it comes in contact with.

After spending much time near toilets, "The Fly" has developed total toilet style vocals – based on the loud, kinda sharp flushing sound and the bubbling gurgles which follow when the flushing process is nearing completion. The toilets aboard the Indian trains epitomize that sound. Just thinking of that I instinctively stretched out my hands and pressed them against the walls closest to me in order to re-establish my support. Man, I have to say the production is astonishingly good for this new one-man band. Everything is mixed very well and it's a delight to listen to. Even the programmed drums sound good. Sarcofaga Canaria however don't have their own sound or style (which, anyway is rare in this genre) and perhaps that explains the numerous influences and comparisons I could make out as their songs are quite varied- but entertaining nevertheless. Their side of the split ends quickly and you are left making buzzing sounds hoping for it to come back and play some more for you; it doesn't, but some reassurance can be found in the fact that they are soon coming out with a full length album.

Not since the time I stumbled upon Disgorged Foetus that an underground French goregrind band has managed to surprise me this much. Keep your eyes on this fly, no matter how fast it hovers around you.

Castrado Cadaver – No Mas… Worms Y Gusanos

Dr.Castrado - Drums, Vocles Alto
Mutilado Mortician - Bass, Vocales Bajo

Now for the band on the other side of this split, Castrado Cadaver. They're from Singapore but if you go by their music, they'd seem to be either from Mexico or Brazil. Either way that doesn't matter much, the music does, which sadly doesn't impress me greatly. They play a crude, noisy and sloppy form of gore-tinged grind which wouldn't be too different if you took defective internal organs of Mexican bands like Oxidised Razor ('La Realidad Es Sangrienta'), Anarchus and Disgorge ('Forensick') and placed them haphazardly in a cadaver like shown in their ugly artwork. The production is absolutely raw, distorted and rudimentary with a rad rumbling bass sound - something which fans of this kind of music will like, others won't. The word ‘structure' doesn't exist at all in their metal lexicon; it seems as if they've decided to play anything they want and record them as songs. They aren't as insanely fast as you might expect, they play mostly medium-fast music and even slow down sometimes. The vocals which mostly comprise of untamed screams and rasps leave something to be desired- the grunts and roars I think. There are a few decent moments but they are very rare and hearing their entire lengthy side to hear those parts would be like watching ballet to steal glimpses of body exposure.

Honestly, I don't think Castrado Cadaver's music (if you can call that) makes too much sense. Hardcore fans of this type of grind would probably dig it, although I feel there are better bands playing in the same style they could check out instead.

The first side of the split is very much worth paying the money for, but unfortunately it seems they've picked the wrong band to do a split cd with – perhaps it's just the tendency of "The Fly" (buzz) to get attracted to shit – and what's worse is that it's the other band which hogs up most of the playing time on this disc. As a result, I cannot whole-heartedly say that this split is worth your money, but you can buy it if you dig the above mentioned band influences and/or if you get it for cheap.

July 24th, 2005