Hospice Orgy

I feel bad for not liking Deathgasm Records more. I really do. They're great, professional people who do a massive service to the extreme metal scene, both with their label and their CD pressing company, which may be the best in the business. But they have a terrible habit of releasing music that I don't like. It's usually not overtly bad, just sort of clouded in its own ambition and rarely with much direction to it. 'Hospice Orgy' is another Deathgasm album I don't really like, but I can't suggest that it's because of those aforementioned reasons- Amoebic Dysentery just isn't a very good band. It's sort of funny how they seemingly disappeared after this album was released- finally get on a pretty establish label, then disappear. Not the best career move.

Amoebic Dysentery is ostensibly influenced by the usual Gut/Meat Shits type speedy drum machine grind stuff, but they really don't sound like anything modern on a songwriting level: really this mostly sounds like an old Repulsion record with a hyperspeed drum machine. I mean, this does help differentiate them from the other bands in this vein out there since they do have actual riffs with an almost thrashy, oldschool feel to all the frantic tremolo, but that's about where the creativity seems to end. The drum machine style is drawn from any given Last House On The Right artist and the vocals are a gurgle/obnoxious high combo taken from all the porngrind bands out there. Beyond that... not much really happens. The songs on this disc are short bursts of energy with a perpetually blasting drum machine and a handful of riffs each; ironically, the music feels faster and has a lot more intensity when they're breaking up all the blasting with more rhythmic thrash sections, which does happen on a pretty regular basis. Still, the bulk of the album is made up of a drum machine playing 32nd snare notes, which means it just really turns into a blur of noise behind some riffs that seem oddly sluggish when pitted against the programming.

I can't say any of the riffs are bad, but that's all the songs are, really: collections of riffs strung together with programming. There's not a ton of structure to the music; riffs are just placed end to end and there's nothing in the way of dynamics or pacing, really: just a ton of short, moderately aggressive songs that don't really do anything that hasn't been seen in this style before. I do appreciate how the band throws it back to the older, original grindcore bands and tries to update it with a modern noisecore drum machine, but the combination doesn't really work out and rarely inspires a lot of interest from the listener. Even the goofy breaks that sound like circus music or feature vocalist Alex Cox wailing in a fake cock rock voice seem weirdly calculated, like they're drawing from an invisible 'wacky grind' handbook. Even more weirdly, I'm not as immediately repulsed by this stuff as I ordinarily am; the band just seems to come by it so earnestly, like they're really having the best time in the world and hope you are too.

The best track here is 'Necrophilaxe', a silly pop-punk parody that's bookended by sections of blasting grind. I guess that says everything, doesn't it?

Amoebic Dysentery are back with another weird-as-hell, sick-ass, mofo goregrind album. In all honesty I’ve never really taken a liking to the band and their music, mainly ‘cause it reminds me a bit of Anal Cunt at times. For some that’s the greatest comparison you can make, but I want it to be a bit more serious and not just messing around. Sure, there are some good tunes on here, but for the most time it’s just bland.

The drum machine is set to max, the pitch shifter is busy at work and the strings are slicing and dicing. Unlike dozens and dozens of goregrind acts (most of ‘em with drum machine) there are a huge variation in between tunes. It’s not just the same endless blasting and guttural growling; each song stands out from the next. And well, that’s a high selling point! Vocal-wise it ranges from the previously mentioned guttural growling to gnarly screams to piglet growling and even to clean vocals. Now that last one adds a great touch to some of the tunes, a bit humorous but still great. My name is Bubbah, Shat out and shut up and Necrophilaxe are probably my favourite tracks on here, and those really stand out ‘cause of the slight use of clean vocals. And I can’t help but to laugh my arse off as soon as the intro for Nobody cares ‘cause you’re fat sets in. They’ve really nailed the samples.

Even though they have a lot of variation and some really cool parts I find it difficult to listen to the entire album in one session. The speeded drum machine gets one my nerves after a while. And it’s sad ‘cause they can really come out strong in a Regurgitate/Last Days of Humanity kind of way, only to fade out into the endless crowd of over-speeded drum machine goregrind. I suppose their fans will have a ball since the CD includes a butt-ugly video for What if the dead body was drunk?, but they don’t really win me over.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net