Apparently, French industrial/goth metalers Porn, are named after the album ‘Pornography’ by The Cure. While I find that a little hard to believe, you’ll be pleased to know that their sound is every bit as filthy as the sort of stuff that you used to find discarded behind a hedge, or nowadays, on any device you’d care to mention.

Their 3rd album ‘The Ogre Inside’ is based on front-man Philippe Deschemin’s very own sci-fi novel ‘Contoyen’, and if you dig the Orgy/Marilyn Manson end of things, you may just get off on this. But the real surprise here is, that despite the heaviness on show, the pace throughout is a bit flaccid.

It starts off eager enough, with ‘Sunset of Cruelty’ and ‘She Holds My Will’ showing plenty of spunk, with muscular riffs and some catchy hooks, but the pace soon starts to flag, and the rather generic Korn style vocals and the substantial length of the songs begin to rub you up the wrong way.

But, the album is not without merit. The brooding soundscapes of ‘Nothing But The Blood’ and the sweeping nature of ‘May Be The Last Time’ mostly hit the spot, but the one-dimensional vocals, once more, make it seem like hard going.

‘Close The Window’ offers some chug and film samples, while ‘Heavy Is The Crown’ features some spoken-word from Aleister Crowley, (This may be alluding to the “Great Beast” of the album’s title…dunno, always been a LaVey man myself) but you may have lost interest by then.

‘You Will Be The Death Of Me’ enlivens proceedings with some Rammstein-ian attachments, and you can’t deny the passion involved in the title-track, it’s just that, on the whole, the album fails to penetrate.

But if you want to know more, then I suggest that you search for Porn on the internet.

‘The Ogre Inside’ is a reasonable effort, but not as good as the latest issue of Jumbly Whoppers.

(5.5/10 Stuart Carroll)

https://www.facebook.com/PORNtheband

https://porntheband.bandcamp.com/album/porn-the-ogre-inside-2017