Entering he goregrind arena is the up and coming UK-based Engorgement, a group of mates who play a rather rudimentary style of gore-soaked and blood-splattered grindcore. Clocking in at a hair past 22 minutes, the seven songs on Excruciating Intestinal Lacerations are what you’d expect from a band from this sub genre of metal, especially one whose ears are still a bit wet.

While the hunger and passion is certainly there for the members of Engorgement, their execution lacks that unique quality that will help them stand out in front of the ever-bloated grind/gorecore crowd. Their rabid and brutal assault tends to hover somewhere in the middle of the speed spectrum; they’re neither crushing and slow or ravenous and fast. And since all seven songs follow the same tempo/speed formula, they all tend to bleed into the next, preventing the songs to differentiate from one another. Also, the vocals are of the typical indiscernible gargling hog variety, which actually takes away from the music because they add little to no depth to the music.

Still, it’s a debut release from a green band whose ranks include members of Gore Sanctum and Embryonic Depravity and in time they will probably learn the skills of crafting a variety of different sounding passages with each ensuing release. Their influences are strewn all across their arms and it’s obvious that Engorgement simply adore the whole grind/gorecore scene, but they need to step away from said genre a few feet and figure out a way to infuse some originality – or at least some sort of gimmick – to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. If they don’t, they’ll never crawl out of the steaming pile of carcasses that they’re trapped under.

Still, Excruciating Intestinal Lacerations is not terrible by any means; it’s just nothing spectacular and it’s entirely devoid of any sort of originality. It also sports a terrific throwback album cover that just harkens to the glory days of Cannibal Corpse. With that said, it’s only a seven-song release and it serves as a decent filler until one or two of the bigger dogs of the scene unleash their rancid material to the masses.

[Visit the band's website]

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