The last time I heard from Crimes Against Humanity Records was actually the last Desolatevoid album, Self Medicated Psycho Therapy and little has changed on the Desolatevoid camp; bassist Nick Carroll still runs Crimes Against Humanity Records, vocalist Aaron Howard still sounds batshit insane and the band still plys a form of gritty, crusty, in your face, Southern sludgy metal that comes across like a more direct, punk fueled, methed out Soilent Green.
Other Southern metal bands come to mind like Eyehategod, Outlaw Order, Goatwhore and such, but with a more chaotic, power chord driven and urgent pace rather than pure Southern drenched drawl though some typically ‘Southern’ metal grooves surface amid the caustic, rollicking noise and the whole affair is over in about 30 minutes.
If the fuzzed out guitar tone and general Southern metal on PCP approach is the heart of Desovaltevoid, the soul is Andy Howard’s vocals which can only be termed as demented as he ranges from unintelligible shrieks, spoken words, deep bellows and everything in between. He makes Phil Anselmo sound like Richard Burton as he covers topics like drugs, society, drugs and overall discontent and hate with everything and everyone. Tracks like opener “Isolation Embrace”, “Cuts Bruises and an Empty Wallet”, “Wreckage of Yesterday” and “Fucked Up an Furious” deliver raucous, unhinged moments of buzzing yet catchy mayhem that border on grindcore at times.
A few red eyed, hung over slower moments litter “Way Past Wits End” and mainly the six minute “Amongst the Scattered Pills” with a mood perfect for that day after, when you wake up next to a total hog with the taste of someone else’s vomit in your mouth and the entire bed is covered in bodily fluids, narcotics and a industrial sized jar of Vaseline.
