Review: Vomitorial Corpulence – Skin Stripper
Vomitorial Corpulence is a name I had heard plenty of times before I finally did the research and understood how important they were. They were usually referred to as the pioneers of Christian grindcore, but these guys took it a step further and played GOREGRIND, which made them stand out more when they were more active throughout the 90s.
Although “Skin Stripper” was their first album to receive a standalone release, it was their SECOND album to be produced. Their prior works from 1995 were planned to be released as an album titled “Karrionic Hacktician”, until Mortification’s own Steve Rowe offered to feature all the tracks on an upcoming sampler compilation under Rowe Productions “The Extreme Truth: Australian Metal Compilation III”. So for this new production, Vomitorial Corpulence got serious at taking just about everything to the next level.
What makes the next album stand out from their prior material is the clearer sound quality to make their unique style of goregrind more audible. The drums stand out more, the vocals are sicker, and the guitars have even more of that chainsaw shred. Plus there’s more of a groove to it compared to the “splatter” aesthetic heard in “Karrionic Hacktician”. It seems these guys took plenty of inspiration from other acts such as Napalm Death when it comes to the grind progression and sound, whereas the gory medical themes and other areas of the grind sound seem heavily inspired by early Carcass. Heck, even at one point the Vomitorial Corpulence logo was fashioned in a very similar way as Carcass’. But rather than show real-life images of gore, the front cover uses Stefan Lochner’s depiction of the flaying of St. Bartholomew in his painting “Last Judgement”.
The album itself is very impressive all the way through, though I think my favorite track has to be the last one “CITDC” (Christ Is The Demon Crusher). And not because it uses a sample from the Peter Jackson film “Dead Alive”, but mainly because of how catchy it is. You wouldn’t help but play air drums along with Chris Valentine I’m sure, but don’t forget to join in on the rhythmic riffs with Paul Green and growl those lyrics. In fact, it may as well be an easy song to play on bass guitar too if Mark Hamilton hadn’t already proven that well enough.
“Skin Stripper” was released by the independent label Christ Core Records in December of 1998 (I was born in June of that year, and I had no idea something as cool as this would have existed until twenty years of my life later), though only around 500 copies were pressed at the time. In 2002, after Paul Green momentarily moved to the United States, Vomitorial Corpulence signed with German label Morbid Records, with their first move being to reissue “Skin Stripper” with a new layout. However, the band never received their share of revenue from Morbid; it goes to show you must always be careful about whom you work with. The band would soon return to working on new material throughout the 2000s, with two cancelled releases and an EP that would soon have all its tracks featured on the “6-Way Sin Decomposition” split. The rest is history, but the return to the Christian extreme metal scene with a new album is a story for another time.
As of lately, you can only find copies of the 2002 reissue of “Skin Stripper” selling on platforms like Discogs and eBay, mostly used ones, but don’t expect to find any selling for less than fifty dollars. It certainly took me a while to snag an affordable copy.
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