Album Review: Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy - Fugue Gnawed from the Scabbed God Cerebrum
Reviewed by Patrick O'Reilly
A complex and bizarre name reflects the complex and bizarre nature of this band. Mixing Slam, Brutal Death Metal, hints of prog metal and other influences makes for a heady brew of extreme music.
Opener ‘Conquering Divinity’ bursts out of the blocks like a bullet leaving an exit wound after leaving a trail of carnage and ruin. Deep guttural vocals fight for attention with machine gun blast beats and razor-sharp guitar riffage, not quite an original combination, but one played and written very professionally. Track teo does not really deviate from this format but by track three we are entering the realms of the weird and wonderful.
‘Severing what makes me human’ fits into its 2 minute 41 second runtime a myriad of angular obtuse riffs, atonal and unapologetic.
If you think this is the direction the album is headed in then you are wrong, as track four ‘Apotheotic Apotemnophilia’ plays like if a grunge band realise they are playing the wrong genre and decide to become a slam band IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG!
This eclectic approach never lets up for the whole of the album, with so many familiar yet alien sounds emerging, riffs that sound like they were written by a thrash band, or slow dirgey sections that come straight from doom metal’s playbook.
Does this approach work? Incredibly, yes! The album stays fresh and interesting; there is always something you draw your attention to and keep you listening. Combine this with the band's art and lyrical efforts and it makes for a crazy, heady mixture of the heavy and the ridiculous, but at least it’s never boring!
