Rating: 8.3
Country: Australia
Genre: Goregrind/Brutal Death
Record Label: No Escape
Release Date: 2008
Track list:
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
9. 9
10.
Total playing time 27:38
Band Website: TDEBN |
The Day Everything Became Nothing - Brutal
Martin Evans - Drums
Dave Hill - Guitar
Tony Forde - Vocals
Dean Engert - Guitar
Xavier Irvine - Bass
Ah, The Day Everything Became Nothing, now there's a band I ought to have paid much more attention to before now. Perhaps it's their crap moniker that caused me to subconsciously avoid ‘em; I'm guilty of havin' judged a band by the name afore havin' heard a single note, which is stupid ‘cos in such cases I'll end up hearin' the self-same band by accident later on and realize that I've been missin' out on something very entertainin' indeed! With TDEBN, if I'd done just a wee bit of readin' I would've found that they were formed by members of Blood Duster and Fuck…I'm Dead, and then gone lookin' for their releases right away! Anyway, enough of all that shite. Everyone except me will probably have already known that they play thick and crunchy, groove-infused goregrind, with downtuned gunmetal chug, punchy percussion and repulsive vox, and this, their latest outin', simply entitled Brutal, is a continuation of that sort of filth.
What we have here is a series of simplistic tunes that steamroll your bonce with riffery, always low-end, frequently palm-muted, enormously brawnified by massive bass-throb, the key to the overall catchiness lyin' with that positively stompin' kitwork which, blastin' in moderation, uses its highest snare speed to choppify the more chugulated segments, placin' more emphasis on the mid-pace which makes for some extremely smooth grooves indeed. If this fails to get at least one bodypart movin', then you're as good as dead! Over the top, you've got nicely contrastin' vox, findin' a good balance between pitchshifted porcelain-bowl pukelization and some higher pitched, natural squawkin', the latter perhaps not fittin' the bill quite as well as the former at first, but on the whole the vox are applied rather well, with a rhythmic quality rather than just sloppin' a few vox on, pitchin' em down and thinkin' that's all there is to it! If you're into gore/grind then you'll know their works fairly well already and ought to know what you're gettin' with this sort o' stuff; bass-heavy bulldozer-bondage songs that feel like you're bein' lashed in slow motion with an extremely broad birch by an extremely buxom bondage broad. Slow motion is the key phrase there though, I think. Oh, and broad. Don't get me wrong there though, ‘cause it's not all mid-paced chug-roll throughout, although the kit is saved from excessive, skin-splittin' blast-beatin', there are enough sprightly bits here to stop the entire disc from disappearin' forever under a thick, grey chug-swamp. It does become a bit trite after a while, but if you don't overdo it and have Brutal in fairly quick doses, then you ought to enjoy it immensely. Mind you, it does become rather addictive, and overdoin' it seems like the best thing to do! If you're into that kind o' thing.
Now, I seem to have got into a twatty habit of citin' the works of Cock and Ball Torture in reviews recently, especially Sadochismo, but once again it's more than appropriate to do so, and I'm sure those familiar with that disc of debauch will agree that such stylings are certainly at play on stuff such as Brutal. Of course, given that Sadochismo reeks of it (but in such a way that you can tell the stench has mutated significantly), you'll also be able to hear some of Sicko Baby, the decadent classick from Mucupurulent, but streamlined, galvanized and re-fuelled in the same method as that used by CBT. In addition, you might be able to hear some Cumgun on here, and perhaps some of the more recent works of Noxious Coitus if you've had the displeasure of catchin' us live recently. Elsewhere, you might be able to make out similarly minded acts from the German gore scene like Plasma (only quite a bit faster) and the Netherlands, like Stoma (only a fair bit faster) and Rompeprop and also Cliteater. I'll say there's traces of Blood Duster here too, but I don't think that would've occurred to me in the slightest if I didn't already know that members of that band were participatin' in this one. Of course, the disc also has a brootal death feel to it; well it'd have to wouldn't it with a title like that, surely? It's most in line with the kind of brutal stuff that grooves more than it slams, and chugs more than it squiggles, maybe stuff like Vomit Remnants, Stabwound or Carnivore Diprosopus, perhaps it could be called brutal death/grind if they didn't have that distinctive porno/gore vox style, ‘cos any given brutal death band will typically baulk at the very idea of usin' a pitchshifter, preferrin' to keep their vocal track as natural as possible; I s'pose you could also liken this to the more brutal death or groove inclined reaches of the Czechgrind scene, such as Eardelete, Jig-Ai, Destructive Explosion of Anal Garland and old Cerebral Turbulency.
The cover concept is super! The crisp and clean grey on white presentation of the craggy logo on the front and the album details within matches the feel of the album; there are no lyrics provided on the inlay, which is probably ‘cause there are no lyrics in the songs, but in order to fully crystallize their ultra-clinical vision, song-titles have also been completely disregarded, the band preferrin' instead to just entitle each song with its track number only. However, I think the real treat is the fold-out image on the inside! It shows the band seated in their garage, surrounded by all manner of expensive equipment, luxury items and indications of great commercial success; a splendid collection of guitars and basses, large amounts of Marshall amplification, widescreen telly, a Merc with a personalized number plate that just reads ‘BRUTAL', an RIAA disc award on the wall (looks like gold, but it should be diamond, surely?) one of the guys at a desk countin' piles of cash and makin' calls and another in the armchair readin' the Weekend Business press, with TDEBN on the headline! The outer part has exactly the kind of cold, minimal and featureless appearance that sits best with this kind of callous bondage gore, whilst the inside redresses the balance with that funny visual marvel. A refreshin' change from the usual pile of ol' gore and whores I'd say!
Overall then, a jolly good lark and a stomp!
April 10, 2009
|
