VILLAGE CRYPT: Pungent Stench - For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh

Here at the Sleeping Village, we keep our most revered albums in....a very special place. Their time may have gone, but they are certainly not forgotten. Today's pick: another one of  The Voiceless Apparition's all-time favorites. As I noted before, the man, as you may have noticed, is on a goddamn roll with these retrospectives. Once you're done with this retrospective, check out some of these look-backs on underrated classics! 

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Written by: ​The Voiceless Apparition​

...And just like that, we are back. Hello everyone. Today we're gonna take a small detour from the black metal-leanings of the last few reviews and go for where my heart lies: death metal. I'm happy to say that today's review is the debut album from Austrian death metal gods Pungent Stench, and their album entitled For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh, released on April 9th, 1990, via Nuclear Blast Records. This is a monumental album in the growth of the European death metal scene, and while it may be still underappreciated compared to it's peers, this is a bonafide classic to the ones who adore it.

The album begins with really eerie intro before being led into "Extreme Deformity." This is the perfect way to start the album. Tasty and filthy grooves combine with pummeling death metal and grindcore brutality, but without sacrificing hooks and catchiness. A major facet of this album that I like quite a lot is the prominent use of bass on this album, courtesy of Jacek Perkowski. He gets time to shine with 2 glorious bass solos that mix well with everything on this song, but that's just a small aspect of this album as he is heard really well in the mix throughout the whole album. Track two, "Hypnos," is a bruiser. The groove sections on this song are glorious, they are simple and catchy but they still keep that energy and rawness to the song. Another fantastic tune on this fantastic album.

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"For God Your Soul, For Me Your Flesh" is the mammoth of the album. The opening section of the song is CRUSHING. Honestly, probably one of my favorite riffs in all of death metal. It's beyond filthy, it's gross. This seriously is one of the catchiest death metal songs ever made, every riff on this song is 10/10.  One thing I need to highlight in this song is the ending where the band each gets their chance to shine with respective solos. It's a really unique way to close out a song and I respect that. "Just Let Me Rot" immediately comes at you and doesn't let go. It's a savage beast that's untamed and unhinged. This easily one of the most brutal songs on the album. Also, listen to the chorus in this song, it's so simple but tell me you won't single along to that.

"Pungent Stench" maintains the cutthroat malice of the previous song but the thing that sticks out the most about this song is the crust punk/d-beat section in the middle, it's masterfully placed and done. It just makes you want to run for the pit. The lyrics are also worth noting on this song as they are absolutely hilarious and I love them. Tell me you can't get a good chuckle to: "Tear the corpse out and look what you've done. Don't repent this mistake, now you get your punishment. The little brat will rip you 'till the end." "Bonesawer" returns to the more groovy side of their sound, but this song is more of a stomper. The main riff is borderline heavy metal but played by a death metal. This is my least favorite song on the album, but only because the other songs are such high quality material. 

"Embalmed in Sulphuric Acid" is the closest Pungent Stench ever gets to being almost fully grindcore. This is as punk as you can get on the album. Simplicity in it's finest form. "Blood, Puss, and Gastric Juice" is almost like a foreshadowing of where Pungent Stench would go with their sound on later albums. The beginning bass lick is sexy as fuck, before leading into that same sexy riff played on guitar. This is such a rocking tune.

"Suspended Animation" starts out with a really cool buildup before leading you into a savage and bestial riff. As you can tell with this album, the riffs are stellar. A face-melter for sure. The album concludes with "A Small Lunch", a strangely sinister closer to a more in-you-face burner of an album. The opening riff is vile filth. It's one of the most doomy riffs on the album, drenched in swampy distortion and coated in heavy sludge. Overall an absolutely killer way to end this masterpiece of an album.

1990 was pivotal year for death metal. Many bands were releasing classic albums like Cause of Death, Spiritual Healing, and Eaten Back to Life, but even those albums don't hold a candle to this demented and savage piece of excremental noise. For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh is a landmark album in death metal history, fusing grindcore, punk, and small tinges of doom metal and rock 'n' roll into their filthy and perverted sound. This is a classic that needs to be heard by every fan of old-school death metal! Filth meter reads: highly recommended. Pungent Stench, please come back! The death metal world needs you more than ever.

Pungent Stench - For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh was released  April 1990 via Nuclear Blast.

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Besides the annals of history, Pungent Stench can be found:
Official Site (clearly updated in recent days)