Vagina

There's basically three periods to intestinal Disgorge's career: their early material, mostly focused on noisecore, their newest period, which is basically brutal death metal featuring a ton of noise, and their basically terrible mid-period where they attempted to make 'normal' porngrind. 'Vagina' is basically the centerpiece full-length from that era, and while it's not as bad as I remember (owing to a couple neat, memorable elements) it's still the weakest of Intestinal Disgorge's full-lengths. Sort of a mixture of something like Morbid Savouring and newer Pig Destroyer, the combination dumps off a lot of the elements which made Intestinal Disgorge such a great band in an attempt to get a bigger audience. Trying for a bigger audience isn't really a bad thing necessarily, but kneecapping your music in the process definitely is.

Yeah, there's hints of the old style here and there: occasionally the noisy, improvised guitar will emerge, the odd electronic effects show up from time to time, and the vocals are just as chaotic and random as ever. That being said, all of these things come with a catch: the random guitarwork and electronics aren't as harsh and unrelenting as before, and the vocals are entirely missing the bitch screams of previous album, instead going for a pretty standard high/low porngrind style- and so goes the rest of the album. Most of the personality of Intestinal Disgorge is forgotten on this release, and while the changed focus from noise and atmosphere to riffs and more coherent songwriting could have been neat, neither of those are really interesting enough to carry the release. Occasionally you'll stumble on a really cool riff, like on 'I Have Been Told You Have A Fine Ass'- though I always thought Intestinal Disgorge were good riff writers- for the most part they just imitate the rest of the more typical grind bands out there. The slow, grooving parts are really the best part of this release, capturing a hint of the atmosphere the band had previously.

There are bright spots, though: for one, the completely deranged, fascinating drum performance, amazingly technical and nuanced despite the straightforward nature of the music, with trilling hi-hats and sudden rhythmic shifts and creative fills all over the music. The songs themselves aren't really bad; a number are actually quite solid grind tracks. I'll openly admit that if this didn't have the Intestinal Disgorge name on it, I'd probably like it a lot more, but in general this stylistic point in the band's career has never done anything with me. Yeah, they make reasonably listenable and interesting normal grind, but I'm not listening to Intestinal Disgorge for normal grind: I want the experimental, avant-garde spirit that so defines the rest of the band's career.

Funny enough, this is probably the most accessible Intestinal Disgorge album. The problem with that, though, is that the people accessing the discography from that point are going to be very disappointed. If you don't really like noisecore but are fond of blitzing porngrind, this might be a good item to pick up, but if you're getting into Intestinal Disgorge for the style they're known for, it's best just to choose one of their other albums.

The "Vagina" album will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first thing I listened to from Intestinal Disgorge (which, having heard "Drowned in Rectal Sludge," I am quite grateful for- I would have dismissed this band had I heard THAT mess first), and it was quite a pleasant experience.

Fans of bands such as XXX Maniak or Meat Shits will enjoy this album: it's usually fast, always heavy, and evenly balanced between delightfully-pissed off grindcore and the 5-second microsongs fans so love. I'm personally not huge on microsongs or the lengthy samples, but Vagina maintains an acceptable balance of the "10 second sample/5 second blast" type songs compared to actual songs.

The album is obviously not to be taken too seriously. From the very beginning this will be evident to the listener: the opening track begins with a sample of an autopsy report, interupted by a simple guitar riff, and again cut off by a "bitch scream," one of the more charming and unique features of this band. This vocal style is full-out, high pitched scream. It sounds akin to a female being stabbed/raped/violent act of your choice. ID liberally peppers these screams in (almost always at inappropriate and non-musical moments) admist the frantic shouted vocals, incomprehensible pitchshifted gurgles and screechy, effeminate wailing.

Fans of the more serious, politically or poetically driven grindcore like Napalm Death or Pig Destroyer might not appreciate this album. If you can enjoy music for the sake of fun or amusement, or can look past some unusual comedic elements, this is a solid album, but someone who takes grindcore 100% seriously will not enjoy this album.

The album is absolutely worth a download, and a purchase if it suits you. If you've ever actually spent money on Anal Cunt, Meat Shits or any pornogrind album, this is absolutely your album. It will be well worth the money.

Highlights for me included "Bitch I'm Drunk" and "Worm-Eaten Severed Heads."