Grindcore, the joke that it’s funny to laugh at two second songs never seems to cease to get a reaction. Indeed, due to this and being a bit of a miserable bugger I often scoffed at the genre in the past, which is ironic considering my passion for Slam. Over the past few years my love for the genre has expanded. Sure, I loved Carcass, Brutal Truth, Rotten Sound, and more ever since finding the extreme side of music but now I’m able to have fun with the more silly bands. Artists like Spasm, Gutalax, Total Consumption and Raised By Owls now get firm recommendations from myself.
Adding to the Grind come the ridiculously named Vomit Fist. The New York based band formed in 2013 and even share their drummer with the controversial Experimental Black Metal band Liturgy. Following a demo and EP from 2014 the band went a bit quiet, but now they have arisen again with their new 2019 EP Omnicide. Yet can this corpse paint clad clan of fantasy infused Grinders prove to be more than just a bit of fun? Let us see. The EP becomes the second chapter of the band’s mythos. In short the Frogvasion has failed despite human collapse. Egg sacks litter rotting corpses in an ecosystem of death, yet the mighty Muscidae await the diminishing sun, pretty epic right?
Epic it may be but the opening track Sleep Paralysis is little more than average Grindcore fare. Fast riffs and drums, Death Metal infused vocals and just over a minute in length. Adding to the generic nature is the atypically snappy eighteen second Cleanser, we’ve all heard this sort of thing before. We soon come to Single-Minded Annihilation which tops the five-minute mark. Alas there is really nothing to get excited about, sure the slower sections show some variation for the band and indeed the instrumentation isn’t bad, yet it offers nothing new. Then almost out of nowhere comes Mass Mutation with its beautiful melodic riffs, it might not be Grind as such but this is a stand out for sure, it sounds almost like a totally different band.
Remnant Light continues with more interesting musicianship and at least becomes another pleasantry. Even the quick Death Process is another slab of savagery, proving that the band need not rely on tried and tested themes. Luckily from here on out the album is a joy, not exceptional by any standards but at least good. The EP then officially closes with Choir Of The Submerged Church, again decent and elevated with the use of clean vocals which actually make this something truly different. There is of course also the bonus track to be noted, Mind-Artifact Espionage. This is nothing more than a nippy Grind finisher, but I kind of like it.
Generally with releases like this it’s quick to fall into a state of misery whereby you cannot find any enjoyment. Alas Omnicide totally turns the tables, what was once cookie cutter Grindcore evolves over the course of the EP into something special. Vomit Fist might not be the greatest band around but there is some promise. I personally would like to see the band focus more heavily upon their melodic nature. This combined with their storytelling is surely a perfect match that is destined to become something unique.
(7/10 George Caley)
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