Yes folks, you read that right – GOREPUNCH. The endless use of the word “gore” somewhere in a band’s name just never ceases to amaze me. This one is either referring to a special brand of drink, or an especially metal form of striking someone with your fist. The moniker aside, what we have is one of the 3 bands currently signed to what appear to be the new label Seeing Red Records. The lineup for Gorepunch could loosely be called a supergroup, as you get guitarist Michael Wilson (ex-Abigail Williams & Aborted), bassist Cole Martinez (ex-Aborted) and drummer Mike Heller (Fear Factory, Malignancy) to add some musical talent to the band’s first full length LP.
As for the music itself, you can see from the above names that there is definitely an Aborted feel to this album, but I found it more like Cattle Decapitation, except less punishing and less enjoyable overall. The music as a whole, save for Heller’s awesome drumming is pretty boring overall. You get blast-blast-groove part; wash, rinse, repeat. There’s not much variation in the 23 minute (not counting the opener) run time. The vocals of Matt Phillips are of the higher screaming variety, and don’t fit with any level of punishment the band is trying to deliver, and got quite grating after about the second song. The riffs are nothing special, but the production is solid.
You can see from the comical artwork and song titles such as “Dead & Breakfast” and “Feculent Drift” that this might be more a fun side project for these guys, which is likely the case as I don’t see this catching on much at all. An easy pass on this one, but check it out if you’re curious as there is much worse out there.
