Before I begin, I must make my apologies. My usual sense of bonhomie seems to have abandoned ship this morning, as I slink off to the shed at the bottom of the garden and begin to try and make sense of the day. It’s usually enough that I can have a quiet word with my inner self, give myself a metaphorical slap around the head and look myself in the mirror and say, everything is going to be alright. And you know what, that tends to be enough really, when the black dog of depression, anxiety and general lugubriousness descends like a cold, wet blanket of doom. As I am sure it is for those that read Ave Noctum and other likeminded bastions of music loving beautifulness, music, is the one constant that claws me back from my self-induced funk and pushes me out of the car into sun dappled fields of sunshine and love. Obviously, everyone’s soundtrack will differ depending on your musical predilection. For me, it’s usually on the heavier side of things (but can be anything from Crowded House, Spotlights, Vein.fm, Metallica, Nile, Old Man Gloom, Werewolves, del Amitri or Will Haven). This isn’t an ill formed and conceited way to say, ‘Wow Nick, your tastes are so diverse and amazing, how can your massive brain deal with such a myriad of musical styles?’. It isn’t that at all, but it does serve notice that not one musical genre is enough to cater for every mood we may encounter on this journey of ours.

Not one size fits all. Which is a long and rambling way bringing me to the subject of today’s lecture (let’s be clear this is a lecture), UK based, two-man operation Slob. I have, as previous missives will attest, a predilection for three-piece bands, and so when it comes to this two-man job, I am often in awe of how so few can produce so much in terms of sound, songs and noise. And to give them their dues, Ross Honour (guitar) and James Murphy (Guitars/Vocals/Drum Programming) have created quite the (mutilated) body of work on this their debut album titled ‘Deepwoods Shack Of Sodomy’. Never has a title been more on the nose and on point.

It’s goregrind, replete with all the usual genre conventions that include, tinny production, Deicide esq blast beats with rolling double bass drums, and piggy squeals, creaks and grunts that conform to the very tight conventions that marshal this very niche and particular genre of Pornogrind. AND here’s the rub. I am no prude, far from it, I enjoy most aspects of this genre, and whilst the music on this album is passable fare but undisguisable from one song until the next, it’s not the music per se that I have taken issue with. Part of the self-subjugating genre staples contained within Pornogrind, are the presence of samples from films (one would hope these are samples from films and not something altogether darker) which feature vignettes of the obligatory, hash and slash machete strikes and abominable acts of violence to coax songs out of their shells or to act as slushy, bowel quivering denouements to the two minutes of drab, unremarkable metal that has proceeded it. Now look, I know that this genre doesn’t always take itself too seriously and I am mindful that these bands (and Slob in particular) are (hopefully) winking at their audiences as if to say….” How fucking preposterous and over the top is this shit?”.

GWAR for example, have based their entire career on the fantastical, the gross, the skanky and the gungy. I get that. BUT and this is where my current mood plays a big part of what may be jaundicing this review, there are samples on this album (and yes, I know it’s fucking made up and not real) that, for me, go too far. Of course, I understand this opens me up for all kinds of accusations of wokery and snowflake-isms (not sure that’s a word but I am going with it) and labelled as someone who can’t take a joke. But honestly, some of the audio samples on here are off the charts gratuitous and repellent. I get that this is a race to the bottom of terms of being shocking within this genre specifically etc., but the protracted and lengthy audio sample of a woman being mutilated and raped does not equal fun in my eyes. No sir, not at all. YES, it’s not real, but it’s still fucking vile. It renders almost everything positive from a musicality perspective moot in my opinion and having failed/refused to even get through this album, I am pretty sure I haven’t done my job here. Sue me…I can’t listen to another second.

(A half chewed pig rind / 10 Nick Griffiths)

https://www.facebook.com/SLOBOFFICIAL

https://comatosemusic.bandcamp.com/album/deepwoods-shack-of-sodomy