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BIGHEAD - Backwoods Medical Anomalies (Review)

10/15/2024

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Written by: The Administrator

As a someone who enjoys new music, there are fewer joys greater than "discovering" a band that has 0 monthly listeners on Spotify. And yes, that feeling isn't diminished even when the act of "discovery" actually refers to clicking a link that a band has emailed directly to me. In any case, we slumbering scribes are happy to get in on the ground floor--albeit a whole year after said email was received--and I hope that this review leads to a double-digit listener count for today's band in question.

The band? Bighead, a solo act reveling in the kind of overt noisy goregrind grotesquery that makes me wish, for the reader's sake, that I could hide this review behind a tasteful blur. If you are preemptively imaging track titles and samples detailing medical procedures gone terribly wrong, that's exactly what Backwoods Medical Anomalies has in store. And for that reason, I highly recommend NOT clicking "read more" if gore and the assorted words and sounds that come with it don't sit well with your stomach. Otherwise, see you on the other side! 


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DEMO(LITION) DERBY: Cerebral Tumour - Demo I

6/22/2024

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Welcome to another edition of DEMO(LITION) DERBY, a relatively new column dedicated solely to demos. Bolstering our underground cred since 2024! If you like reading about demos, check out our previous reviewhere!

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Written by: The Administrator

If you've read our previous entries in the (obnoxiously entitled) DEMO(LITION DERBY series, you're undoubtably familiar with the toil and trouble endured by the Sleeping Village's own Pit Herder. Upon receiving permission to injudiciously trawl the depths of our inbox for demo tapes, said manager of the promo pit uncovered a veritable bounty of quality specimens. Which sure is convenient, 'cuz I personally love listening to and writing about demos. 

Today's catch comes from the goregrindy Cerebral Tumour, a band about which I know effectively nothing. To add to the air of mystery, the
 demo is the only listing under Stench Trench Productions, who appear to have released nothing else. According to the bandcamp description, Demo 1 technically contains 6 tracks proper alongside an intro and outro, but you'll also note that when you stream, the entire 10 minute and 30 second runtime is contained within a single track listed under "Cerebral Tumour - Demo I." That said, the track breaks are obvious, and with the short run time you won't be skipping around anyways. In any case, this whole experience reeks of unorthodox upload approach, and one that certainly bolsters the grimy ethos of inaccessibility, 

After the atmospheric, staticky, and borderline gothic intro, Cerebral Tumour get right into it with some massive and notably putrid riffage. This is dank and dark, plunged from the subterranean depths. The tone is loose and earthy and cavernous, firmly rejecting any sheen or polish. Nasty stuff, no doubt, and the general thrust of the tracks lends an aggression that plays well against the fetid sonic environment. Lest they be forgot, the vocals serve inordinately well to contribute to the existing aesthetic. Set deeply in the mix, these grinding gurgles and phlegmy roars feel truly primordial.



If you're a connoisseur of gross and grindy fare, I don't suspect that you'll find Demo I revelatory or revolutionary by any stretch. But that's okay! More than okay, I'd argue. This is some dirty and disgusting music, plain and simple. If that's your thing, I highly recommend putting on a snorkel and wading in. I do hope that any releases past the demo don't lose the dense atmosphere and menacing tone--if they can keep this sound intact, Cerebral Tumour will be one to watch.
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Cerebral Tumour - Demo I was released June 1st, 2024 via Stench Trench Productions. Find it here!

Cerebral Tumour can be found:
Bandcamp
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TROCAR - Extremities (Review)

4/7/2024

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Written by: The Administrator

Let's clear this up right out of the gate: Trocar are gross. Not cutesy gross, but fundamentally and irrevocably gross. Repugnancy has been the name of the game for these (literal) organ grinders, and their debut full-length is accordingly stomach-churning. If you're unfamiliar with Trocar, just consider that the band composition consists of two members of Fluids (Jan Grotle and Walter Hale) alongside death metal connoisseur Schuler Benson, who you may know from @deathmetalradio infamy. Given the lineup, please extrapolate. The sum of the component parts is bound to be bloody, unsettling, grotesque.

Anyways. The bluntly and accurately entitled Extremities was released April 5th via Selfmadegod Records, and if you've enjoyed Trocar's work thusfar across various splits and EPs, you'll enjoy this. Indeed, in my opinion, this is their best work yet. A genuine level up. It may be the sonic equivalent of a garbage bag filled with medical waste left in the sun for, oh, a couple of decades, but Extremities is the finest grind I've had pleasure of consuming in quite some time.


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FRESH MEAT FRIDAY: June 17th, 2022 Feat. Void Witch, Trocar, Valley of the Sun, and Inexorum

6/17/2022

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Every Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with our sustenance. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some of our choice picks from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be--and have been--listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so! 

This Friday, Bandcamp is holding their third annual Juneteenth fundraiser, where they donate 100% of their cut of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Win/win!

On the docket for today, June 17th, 2022:
Void Witch, Trocar, Valley of the Sun, and Inexorum

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Void Witch - Void Witch
(​Everlasting Spew Records)


Either you love Void Witch's 2021 demo, or you were, until now, unaware of Void Witch's 2021 demo. After much anticipation, said demo is reborn, having been bolstered with a new song and granted official "debut EP" status. The three tracks contained within are diagnostically bad to the bone, as engrossing as they are gruesome. "Boudoir Bloodfeast," the newest addition to the Void Witch repertoire, is a notably excellent track, with a keen sense of dynamic play between the component death-y and doom-y parts. Nothing sits or feels stagnant, and in my mind, it is that restless sense of movement that has quickly made Void Witch stand out despite their newcomer status. In good time, this EP is gonna  be considered a classic, so you should obviously check it out now and establish your legacy as a true fan of their early stuff.

Find it here!

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Trocar - Four Forfeit Digits
(Independent, released 6/14)

There's no question that "gross" and "goregrind" generally go hand-in-hand by sheer nature of the beast. That said, this debut EP from Trocar elevates the art of grossness to sincerely admirable levels. The first three tracks are blistering affairs, raging forth with a burbling putridity and a mechanized drive like unto a piece of flesh-mangling  machinery that unexpectedly kicks into high gear when you climb inside to clean out the gunk. While I particularly love "Orphaned Organs" for it's sheer absurdity, the standout track is closer "(Every Day Is) Halloween," which rolls forth with a distinctly electronic bounce, lending a new meaning to the "mechanized" descriptor. In a few short minutes Four Forfeit Digits features a dizzying array of sights and sounds, and ultimately serves to seriously whet my appetite for more. Good shit, 'nuff said.

Find it here!


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