Review: Four New Singles by Vomitorial Corpulence
Anyone’s who’s into extreme Christian metal, and frankly, anyone who’s into grindcore at all should be really stoked to know that Vomitorial Corpulence, the infamous Australian gore grind outfit that put Christian grindcore on the map, is back.
But if you’re expecting the Vomitorial Corpulence of old, you are in for a major shock. Now reduced to sole member Paul Green, Vomitorial Corpulence sounds like a completely different animal from the days when the band was spewing out similar noise to bands like Carcass, Pathologist and General Surgery. With the band experiencing a sort of exhumation after 18 years (their last material being released on the infamous Christian grindcore compilation entitled Six-Way Sin Decomposition), they’ve been releasing a string of singles.
Like I said, this is not the Vomitorial Corpulence you might know from before; in fact, it seems like Paul Green has been paying close attention to the newer sounds current in the Christian death metal and grindcore scenes, and has given the band’s sound an almost complete and total overhaul. The sound heard on these four singles – “Beastial Devourment,” “Hanging Martyrs,” “Killing Spree of 40 Virgin Martyrs,” and “Masticated Ahijah” (yes, you read all of those titles right) – showcases a blend of death metal, deathcore, and grindcore.
Now, for myself, when I first heard “Beastial Devourment” a few months back, I was disappointed. That Reek of Putrefaction-style grind was nowhere to be found, replaced instead with a hyper-raw tech-death blitzkrieg that sounds like it has more in common with a band like Breach of Demise than with anything goregrind related. Is the song well-executed? Yes, there’s no doubt of that. Green’s crazy fretwork and wildly-varying vocal delivery (even featuring my least favourite vocal delivery – the pig squeal – which is delivered in a style similar to something you’d hear on a song by Hell Bovine) is definitely ear-catching. But I found myself scratching my head at just how absolutely different the song sounded compared to anything I’d heard from the band before. Karrionic Hacktician, this isn’t. But hey – bands reinvent themselves, change, evolve, etc., so why can’t Vomitorial Corpulence?
Next up, we have “Hanging Martyrs,” a song that begins with a flurry of latter-day Cannibal Corpse riffing, furious high-pitched shrieks and screams, and tinny drumming, once again sounding like nothing ever heard from the band before. And if I stop trying to look for the grindcore on here, this is a pretty solid blend of death metal, deathcore, and tech-death all wrapped into one short, two-minute package.
The shockingly named “Killing Spree of 40 Virgin Martyrs” really brings in the Mangled Carpenter vibes full-stop, showcasing a blinding mix of chugging groove with vocal work very similar to Seth Metoyer’s from the aforementioned band (as well as his other major band, Pulpit Vomit). The title really made me think of the lyrical approach of fellow Christian grind band Deophobic Necrosis, but the music sounds nothing alike that band.
Lastly, we’ve got the really bizarrely-named “Masticated Ahijah,” a reference to the prophet Ahijah in the Old Testament (specifically 1 Kings, as well as 2 Chronicles). The brief 57-second song opens super strong with some modern OSDM-style riffing, but takes a hard right turn into almost deathcore-ish territory that reminded me a bit of With Blood Comes Cleansing’s work.
It should be pretty clear by the end of listening to these new singles that Vomitorial Corpulence is exploring a new style, one that moves beyond the stormy gore-laden noise of earlier classics like Skin Stripper into a more modern sound that blends brutal death metal, deathcore and tech-death all into an entirely new sonic monstrosity. Whether this new sound is up your alley is up to you. My opinion? I find myself disappointed with the new direction, personally. Vomitorial Corpulence, for all of their obvious influences, created some absolutely crazy music back in the day that took extreme Christian music to its utter limits, both sonically and lyrically. And while the band has obviously kept the gruesome lyrical approach intact for the most part, the sound has changed quite a bit from former days. And for my part, I’m just not as into it; that’s simply my personal opinion. That said, however, if you’re not a stick in the mud like me perhaps, and you dig the direction many modern death and grind bands are taking right now, you will love this stuff. In spite of its changes, Vomitorial Corpulence’s newest string of singles showcase a band that is willing to evolve and embrace a violent new take on their stylistic roots.
A new album entitled Martyrdomical Symphonanthem is set to be released this October 30th on Rottweiler Records.
For Fans Of: Ingested, Mangled Carpenter, Pulpit Vomit, Breach of Demise, Krig, Tortured Conscience, Flesh Incineration
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