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PISSROT
Piss.Vile.Gunk EP

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

I was shocked to find that this trio formed in 2015 as Dethocolypse and then renamed themselves Sabotage in 2019. And the reason I was so surprised is because they each look like they are about 15-years-old! But I take my scalp off to A.M. (vocals and guitar), C.M.T. (vocals and bass) and C.R.T. (drums) for creating a wretched chunk of fleshy death metal straight out of Tennessee.

With Piss.Vile.Gunk you get five short tracks; ‘Cripple Dismemberment’, ‘Gunk’, ‘Kidney Stone Slingshot’, ‘Pumped With Dope’ and ‘Primal Harvest’. But put the comedy element aside after those goofy titles and you’ll be smothered by a bludgeoning heap of rancid death metal that lives up to its title.

That opening number, ‘Cripple Dismemberment’, is a fiery mesh of grinding axe work and bludgeoning percussion, but you still get the gnashing, cavernous catchiness hinting at Swedish and Finnish design alongside an early-to-mid 90s US feel. But there’s also that morbid, swampy tone which so many current artists are riddled with. The vocals are deep and chesty, way down in the rib-cage, and they add that extra ghoulish vibe, more so with the crushing ‘Gunk’ which you can literally choke on due to its short, yet pungent odour.

The EP takes several listens to grab hold of because it’s so short, but the deviations between hefty pace and catchier, mid-tempo slices – as with ‘Kidney Stone Slingshot’ – make for compelling observations. It’s just one big meaty feast of Mortician-styled grinding where other influences are injected into the veins, the result being a rather gargantuan sounding ghoul that hammers and pounds.

The mashing ‘Primal Harvest’ has that classic dehydrated vocal gasp and that distinctive Swedish buzzsaw axe sound, while ‘Pumped With Dope’, complete with film sample, chugs with a buzzing intensity then offers up a blistering pace of drums, bass and guitar mutilation.

These guys describe themselves as “cavernous caveman death metal”, and although it’s not quite so primitive it offers up enough aggression and chest-pounding grimness to leave me salivating for another release. Mature beyond their years, Pissrot is another new name on the chopping block you need to take note of.

Neil Arnold

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