Sometimes production can make me overlook average or bad music. I’ll gladly listen to just OK albums if they have a killer guitar tone. Lord knows Ive got some pretty average CDs in my collection, that I retain merely due to the killer Stockholm HM 2 buzz (I’m looking at you Torture Pulse‘s God Leash), my absolute favorite guitar tone ever. I wish I could say the debut from Germany’s Faeces Christ was going to be one of those albums.
Plying a sort of punky, death ‘n’ roll-ish death metal/grindcore, Faeces Christ go for that off-kilter, low brow, horror-filled, semi-humorous (as if the band moniker and album title were not enough of a giveaway) Blood Duster-y approach with song titles like “The Goatse and the Goat”, “Cadaverous Erection”, “People Piss Me Off”, “Menstrual Cup” and “Video Nasty”. And those lecherous ditties are delivered with some of the worst vocals I’ve heard recently, with bassist/vocalist ‘D’ using a semi howled, shout, and occasional growl, that just hits me all sorts of wrong.
The thing is, Gimme Morgue! has a fucking KILLER guitar tone, with a thick Wolverine Blues-y low end and buzz, and occasionally they deliver a pretty fun, romping riff as heard on “People Piss Me Off” or “Rest in Piss” (replete with someone pissing sample…. hilarious), “Parasite”, and ‘catchy’ “Video nasty”. All delivered with sneering, punky energy, and competency in the riff writing department, but those vocals and the overall result, just do not make for an enjoyable 32 minutes. Even the 5-minute closer “Embalmed in Vomit”, which tries to be a ‘real’ Swedish death metal song with a moody, varied pace is offset by the vocals. But I’m guessing that’s kinda what these guys want, and almost assuredly don’t care.
A rare miss (in my lowly opinion) for FDA Records, but thankfully the absolutely killer Scalpture album, Feldwärts makes up for it.
