It has 17 songs, lasts for 27 minutes and sounds like the sonic equivalent of a constipated bear trying to take a crap in the woods. Must be a Grindcore band! Now let me say upfront that I am not exactly the world's biggest Grindcore fan. Sure enough I can, on occasion, enjoy some of the more famous bands in the genre, like Napalm Death or Carcass, but for the most part it really is a musical style that doesn't do a whole lot for me.
Bestial Devastation hail from Italy and are a relatively young band, who have only been together since 2002. Since the band members themselves chose to remain anonymous, through the use of their so-called battle names (very inventive!), there really isn't a lot of info I can give you, save that Splatter Mania is their second release. It is their second release and the follow-up of 2003's self-released Sores, Blood & Puss.
How on earth they actually managed to get an actual label contract (with Deadsun Records) this time around is a bit beyond me though. Let me be quite frank, the band doesn't even really try to show any sort of musical aspirations whatsoever. Simply put it is a completely chaotic and badly produced mess from start to finish. Now I am aware that Grindcore probably should more or less be sounding like this - but I can hardly imagine that even the diehard fans of this particular style will really find a lot to enjoy on Splatter Mania.
Of course with a title like Splatter Mania and songs like Self Defecation, Cockless Man and Charlie Don't Shit it really should be no surprise as to what the lyrical content of the album is all about either. Highly unintelligent crap indeed, although I do wonder what a title like Thor's Hammer is about, since it seems to be strangely out of place here. Anyhow, I doubt that there is anyone out there who can actually make out any sort of lyrics in the jumbled mess anyway. Let alone if there is anyone around willing to try. Some attempts at humor are also injected thanks to a couple of short intermezzos and I found those to be the most bearable tracks on the album, but only because they last for 3-5 seconds on average.
From reading the above, it should come as no surprise that my overall opinion on Splatter Mania is rather negative. I know that I am one of the 300 lucky reviewers out there, in the possession of a promo copy (according to the accompanying info sheet), but really, thanks but no thanks, guys. Next time you can save yourselves the trouble of exposing me to this type of crap. This band definitely is no Carcass (and probably doesn't aspire to be one either). Next please!