Y'know, I'm getting real tired of the constant juxtaposition of cutesy-wootsey anime girls and straight-up gore. I know this is the epitome of a first-world problem, but the trope is tired. Stillbirth Records is the hub for this style. Yet, from there, I've gravitated towards Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (now shortened to Onchocerciasis for my sanity), the third project by Alice Simard I've written about. I thought my less-than-stellar review of Vitrified Entity's latest album put me off of Simard's efforts, but I'm giving her, and the rest of the Onchocerciasis crew, one more shot with their newest LP, sigh, "Fugue Gnawed From the Scabbed God Cerebrum." 

This is brutal/slam death metal with identity. Perhaps I was drawn to this album due to its progressive and avant-garde influences, or maybe by the cult-like backing behind its release. Whatever it was, it turned out to be fucking ridiculous. Where do I even begin? This record plays with atmosphere and ambience - two things goregrind never deals with. Some tracks ("Vile Verses Flogged into the Wings of Angels") are completely ambient, and many of the longer songs fool around with "calm" segments. "Calm" in this case means a part where the drums aren't programmed at blistering speeds or when the downtuned slams aren't bashing my brains in. The album is still 98% brutal death metal, so don't expect too much serenity. Moving on, the vocals are an instant gag reflex trigger. Jesse Angiomamitis sounds like my stomach after downing a chicken burrito bowl, and the extra pig squeals and grab-bag screams prove his horrific talent. He gurgles lyrics (I think) that I'd never want to hear anunciated. From titles like "Severing What Makes Me Human" to "Gutted & Corpsed," "Fugue Gnawed..." is a relentlessly evil album.

And yet I appreciate it. I've never liked grind or any of the genre's unappealing offspring aside from rare exceptions like Cloud Rat. But there's something about this that intrigues me... it could be the avant-garde touch to the song structures? The progressive guitar work in the closer "Forged in the Blackest Reaches of Blasphemy?" The super-crisp snare tone? Some mystical demon convincing me that not all albums of this kind are lame? Onchocerciasis seems to add subtle hints of many outside styles, like an electronic outro in the opener, or faint plucking of some string instrument in "Heaven's Empty Halls." The trio is always adding something to keep me from ripping my earbuds out and calling it a night.

It's a strange album, and one that I will never listen to again, but "Fugue Gnawed From the Scabbed God Cerebrum" is thirty-something minutes of disgusting, repulsive music that works. The atmosphere and progressiveness make this a goregrind album that'll stick out like a mutilated thumb in its field. A pretty gory field, I imagine.