I first discovered this filthy bunch of bastards back in September 2015 when they played the eventful FASTival in Liverpool. The five piece from Manchester have a real diverse and wild sound, incorporating punk, thrash, grindcore and death metal, fusing it all together and then spewing it up on whoever is (un)fortunate to see them live. Me? I loved them and since then I’ve followed their progress to the point where one of the band members sent me this and asked me to review his audio porn work… Yes, they’re marketing this as porn. I suppose it’s a good comparison given how filthy and dirty it is, so they got that right!
With all four tracks on this self-titled effort all under three minutes, the word intense springs to mind in describing this EP in an overall sense. Harsh and throaty vocals laced with venom are delivered scathingly and the buzzsaw like guitars toe the line between Napalm Death and At The Gates, an unholy union of melodic entropy. “Toed In The Hole” opens the release and straight away you get sucker punched by its ferocity. Growling riffs, harsh vocals and a tight as fuck rhythm section tie it all together and before you know it, it’s finished stomping on you and shifts right into “S.B.W” with no warning. The obligatory china cymbal crashes signal a full on chaotic mess of distortion. Screamed vocals, rapid riffs with a slight hint of melodic progression to them pummel away much like Corrupt Moral Altar and as the spiral into rhythmic hell and musical entropy continues, it just gets heavier. In a live setting, this is sure to break people, physically, mentally and probably emotionally to the point they’d be a crying wreck once it is all over. It’s horrible, it’s filthy and I love it!
“Diarrhoea Of A MadMan” is up next and it’s a song people who know this band should be familiar with as it was debuted a couple of months ago. Angry, raw and relentless, it’s just pure, unadulterated chaos. Hammering rhythms, laden with blasts and heavy fills, riffs which buzz before adopting a more thrash metal like groove and vocals which cut like a knife. Shifting the pace, it allows for a frantic sense of urgency to build around it as it picks up the pace once more and by the end of the track, it’s just full on merciless. Wailing solos, rapid riffs and a relentless rhythm unit all provide the backdrop to the harsh guttral roars before it finally cuts out, paving the way for the final track. Closing the EP “Gorehead” brings out the more raw punky edge to the band. With some furious blasts, a thunderous bassline and harsh guitar and vocal assaults, it launches off at breakneck speed. Chaotic in nature, it really sums up this band. Full of grooves subtly hidden in the venomous musical delivery which will only encourage chaos in a live setting, it’s easy to see where the grindcore influence comes from. Jarring chords, frantic wailing leads and blasting drums hammer away with little mercy before the torrential storm finally subsides, fading into silence
In just under ten minutes, Gorehead have managed to cram the same intensity into their 4-track EP as some more established/prolific bands of this styling can cram into a full length release. Full of anger and rawness, the merging of the old school punk, grindcore and thrash with some death metal to round it off creates a truly horrific and intense sound, and trust me, you have to hear it to understand just how beautiful it is. Bring on their full length!
(8/10 Fraggle)
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