Review Summary: A great example of filth and brutality at it's finest.
Gorenoise. Pornogrind. Sludge metal. Exotica. What do these genres have in common? Not much. Two are related to grindcore, but the rest have nothing to do with each other. But somehow one man band Phyllomedusa pulls it off in one of the best grind albums I’ve ever heard.
The production really makes the music feel overwhelming and in your face. All of the instruments other than the drums are given such a noisy production that you can make it out just enough for it to go hard. The touch of making the drums crystal clear prevents this album from sounding too monotonous, and the album plays with this contrast at times. And jesus christ the grooves on this album are insane. The guitar and bass tones are absolutely filthy. The guttural vocals are there just enough to not divert the focus on the instrumentals.
Yasawa Archipelago is the prime example of this. Everything about it demands a mosh pit as soon as it starts. The sludgy riffs and the disgustingly groovy bass lines are unrelenting.
I Grate The Forehead Along The Live Coral To The Point Of Lubricity uses feedback and sludgy riffs to create one of the best tracks on the album. It’s such an overwhelming track that is pretty creative on how it uses feedback alongside the rest of the album’s ideas.
The album uses the Exotica influences to pertain to the whole island theme and to give it a bit of variety between tracks sometimes.
This album gives you one thing, but does it so well that you don’t want it to be any different. I’m on the fence if this is a 5 yet, so I’ll give it a 4.7 for now.
If you like noise, goregrind, and/or sludge metal and would want to see all of that put together then listen to this now. It’s pummeling, easily moshable, but has enough going on creatively to make it stand out. Pretty much all I could ask for from a release like this.
For a project with around 400 releases to his name (as of early 2025), he absolutely strikes gold here.
Recommended Tracks: I Grate The Forehead Along The Live Coral To The Point Of Lubricity, Yasawa Archipelago, Mass Murder in Paradise, Voodoo Bled Cacosternum/My Grand Discovery Of Refuge In The Coconut Husk .
