The Loop of Henle--Obscene Grotesqueries (CS) (2026 Gurgling Gore Records)

Again we have a band that seems to be part of a growing movement in the underground bent on combining goregrind and death metal in gross and memorable ways. I'm intrigued by this because the scenes were somewhat disparate in the past, with goregrind relegated (in many cases) to the grind and noise scenes. But, from my home state of Michigan comes The Loop of Henle, a goregrind/deathgrind hybrid that takes no prisoners and is thoroughly nasty. They have excellent songs, albeit quite short ones, sharp gory shocks that will stick in your head with enough listens, as the rapidfire songwriting sticks with you after a time. The main vocal style is a pitch shifted growl that sounds like what the cover looks like. Dirty, gross, and goresoaked. Occasionally a high vocal makes an appearance for emphasis on a vocal line or two. There's enough of a death metal side to this to keep even death metal purists interested, and grind fans will be similarly entertained. Not much more can be said about a nine minute record, just check this out if you like filthy deathgrind. Bonus points for a song titled "Scalding Vomit," since we like the barf content here at Ominous Vomit!

Defense Wound / Writhing Shadows--Anticosmic Rituals (CS) {2025 Gurgling Gore Records}

www.gurglinggore.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Here we have a split with two bands from Alabama that also share members, which is interesting. Defense Wound plays a chunky style of death metal that clearly has some hardcore influences, but it serves to make them heavier and more barbaric. Their three songs are mostly mid-paced and emphasize heaviness first and foremost, leaning on simpler compositions. Vocally, their singer employs deep growls with the occasional high scream, forceful and powerful from deep in the chest. The riffs are top shelf, focusing on headbanging rhythms and smooth transitions, which the drummer assists by sitting in the pocket and providing steady beats. Writhing Shadows has a somewhat similar style, but they have just a tinge of blackness and doom in their sound, coming off as being a darker version of Defense Wound. They're not afraid of big doomy passages, as the first song on the split shows, "Scarlett Fluids." I believe I prefer Defense Wound to Writhing Shadows, but both are excellent bands and I look forward to hearing more. 

Leucotome--Lumped Cuts of Offal (CS) {2025 Gurgling Gore Records}

www.gurglinggore.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

This is Leucotome's first release, a four song demo. They play blistering old-school death metal with catchy riffs and sick blastbeats with some Necroticism-era Carcass influence. One thing that immediately sticks out is the use of slap technique on the bass guitar in the first song "Lumped Cuts of Offal." The vocals are delivered in a low growl that's disgusting and throaty, with the occasional foray into a higher register or puking noises. And here at Ominous Vomit, we love those puking noises! Overall, this is dirty, foul, decrepit death metal, and anyone searching for truly underground sounds should go find this.

Plasmodulated "An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell" (Review)

Plasmodulated "An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell"

2025 Dawnbreed Records (CD/LP), Gurgling Gore (CS), Personal Records (Digital)

www.dawnbreed.com

www.gurglinggore.com

www.personal-records.com

7/10 CRUSHED FUCKING SKULLS

Of course when I saw the cover of this album I had to cover it. There's puke. This is Ominous Vomit. Anything puke-related gets covered! Anyhow, this is the debut LP for this Floridian band, and it's a damn fine effort. They evoke the 1990s greats while having their own well-defined sound, both technical and hook-laden. Sometimes they even border on the atmospheric like a lot of European death metal, as well. It really is beyond a pigeon-holed description, other than this is real death metal for underground metalists who like good, heavy, morbid music. The drums keep it interesting during the slower songs, and the guitar solos are actually worth hearing, unlike a lot of death metal solos. "Excess Virulent Seepage" shows off the band's technical prowess, but they don't dwell overly long in that territory, and get right back to being vicious and heavy. I respect a band that doesn't lean strictly on their technical ability and attempts to write actual songs that rely on that technicality instead. I keep coming back to one point - this is a unique sounding record with great songs, and I can't endorse it more fully than that. 

Mutagenic Host "The Diseased Machine" (Review)

Mutagenic Host "The Diseased Machine" 

2025 Dry Cough Records (LP and European Cassette) / Gurgling Gore Records (US Cassette) / Memento Mori Records (CD)

www.drycoughrecords.com / www.gurglinggore.com / www.memento-mori.es

BADASS TRACKS: All of them, motherfucker.

BADASS SONG TITLES: The Twisted Helix, Incomprehensible Methods of Slaughter, Organometallic Assimilation, Artificial Harvest of the Obscene

BADASS SHORT DESCRIPTION: Heavy as FUCK

This review is a bit short because I'm not going to bother going through this album in bits like I do some albums. Why, you ask? Because I don't fuckin' need to, since this album is setting the clear benchmark for death metal in the year to come. Every track has purpose, every track has hooks, every track is well-written, and every track is HEAVY AS FUCK. Period. This one crushed my face, and since receiving the cassette in the mail from Gurgling Gore (a record label that I've come to trust as a home for sick underground death metal in the same way that Headsplit has been), I've listened to it five times, and the 6th right now as I write.

Mutagenic Host comes from the UK, and their sound is a bit like if you stripped the overt melodicism from Bolt Thrower's latter-day works, sprinkled the early 1990s Tampa sound on the remains, and added some Midwest brutal death metal grooves. They actually remind me a lot of Gutted from Toledo, OH, and perhaps a little bit of Descendent from the same city. They, too, delivered heavy-ass, chunk-filled grooves at a mid-paced velocity and didn't overuse the blast beat. When Mutagenic Host uses blasts, it serves the song structure. I like blast beats as much of the next guy, but a band like this should hang in the pocket just like they are, and let the sheer fuckin' heaviness of the music reign, and not the speed, so much. Even the intros, outros, and interludes have their purposes, with all kinds of crazy machine noises and almost telling a horrific science fiction tale. It's nice not to have to sit through the same old stuff in that regard. There are just a lot intros out there, and doing them differently is a huge plus. I may be wrong, but I sometimes think I hear a bit of Celtic Frost or Hellhammer in their sound, also.

I'm not going to waste any more of your time describing this slab of industrial-strength steel. This is real death metal for real death metalists, as I'm so often fond of saying. Posers beware! It'll wipe them out at even low decibel levels. Just go buy this, and you'll get heavy as fuck death metal that shows no compromise and no remorse, and wastes posers at 1000 yards. I'm a fan now, and I cannot wait to see what they do next. As far as what version to buy, if you're in the US and you like cassettes, the Gurgling Gore version is really nice with a transparent green cassette with the band logo printed nice and big right on both sides. Even the case is great, because the rear of the case is a teal color that matches the purple and teal cover art nicely.