2024 Maggot Stomp / CD, Cassette, LP
maggotstomp.bandcamp.com
BADASS SONG TITLES: Hive Mind Homicide, Carcass Compost
BADASS SHORT DESCRIPTION: Heavy shit!
From the well-regarded (or much-hated, depending on who you
talk to) Maggot Stomp label comes another young band, Mutilation Barbecue. Personally,
I like the attention to simpler, heavier bands that the Maggot Stomp label
tends to bring us. This album is thoroughly in the vein of the greats from
Florida with some added groove and the occasional heavy-ass breakdown, this is
a group of talented musicians that can both write a song and keep them heavy as
fuck. They fit right in with their label-mates, and that’s not a bad thing,
especially where tours are concerned.
The guitar tones are extremely heavy and nicely produced,
the bass is very audible, and the drums are entirely natural sounding, with a
tiny bit of “ping” in the snare, but not a lot. In their songs they sometimes
rely a bit too much on slower grooves, and I’d like to see them utilize speed a
bit more. A little could go a long way. The same in the vocal department – I’d
like to see him vary his patterns a little more. However, the vocals are very
strong, deep, and they come from the deep gut, from where my own vocals used to
emanate. I know how he’s getting those strong tones, and it’s all diaphragm
work.
I didn’t care for a few of the more dissonant riffs and the
heavy use of harmonics in some songs, and they’re heavily used in both Abortion
Ambulance and Auto Anthropophagy. They grated on my ears a little, but if the
listener just waits a little, the band will veer into something absolutely masterful
to follow that stuff up. They have real chops, too, with the sort of
divebombing solos I like to hear in death metal. They pull from across the
death metal spectrum in their influences, but I can absolutely tell “Tomb of
the Mutilated” was a huge influence here, with the “Cannibal bounce” they have
in many of their riffs and with the harmonics being present at the tail end of
some riffs. You can build on worse songs than “Hammer Smashed Face,” of course!
Don’t let me nit-picking things fool you into thinking I don’t
like this band – I do. They’re not a favorite, but I’m not turning it off,
either. With about three years, an EP and an LP under their bullet belts, they’re
young and most likely are still experimenting with their sound and personality
as a band. Not everything comes out of the gate as finely-honed as the
classics! I’d venture to say this band is on their way to nailing down what
makes them special, though. That’s one of the reasons I like the label they’re
on. I can watch the literal de- and re-evolution of death metal. A lot of their
(very young) bands have stripped things back to an earlier decade’s sound and added
back in a few of the things they want to hear in metal as well. Everything on
this record is meant to induce hair-windmilling and banging heads, and they
succeed in that. Just dial up that intensity a bit next time.
And a bonus: a later-season Trailer Park Boys sample at the
beginning of Spontaneous Human Combustion really made me laugh. J-Roc giving
someone the business is always a delight.
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