Take an array of bullet-spitting and neck-breaking percussive assaults, heaping helpings of fretwork mania, doses of brazen and grim melody, a slaughtering spectrum of vocal belligerence, and some bridge-collapsing breakdowns, then put all that into the blender of your mind and press “Puree” in rapid pulses.
That thought might help you imagine what the Indiana band Severed Headshop pull off in the barbaric and bamboozling track we’re premiering today, along with a video of the performance.
The song in question, “Eternal Soul Penetration“, is one of five that appear on their hilariously named debut EP The Fuckening, which is now set for an August 5th release by Everlasting Spew Records. It’s quite a head-scrambling stylistic amalgam, which the label has attempted to sum up this way: “Blending early 2000s brutal death with blackened sorceries and modern Death Metal approaches and playing it all with a grindcore sneer….”
photo by Hanah Klodzinski
Yes, it’s a debut EP, but not the band’s first release. That was the 2018 demo It’s About Fucking Time, and even that release wasn’t rushed into print, given that the band was first formed in the summer of 2010. It took some time, but the line-up (which includes members of Carrion Vael and Maimed) solidified in the shape of drummer Justin Wallisch, bassist Ian Dygulski, vocalist Joe Jacobs, and guitarist Ryan Kuder.
The song you’re about to hear (along with imagery of all the guys doing their things) is a real roller-coaster ride. The band flip the tempo switch so fast and so often it creates the sonic equivalent of a strobe-light. Similarly, they move from blaring, demented arpeggios to bursts of darting insectile riffage and grim, glaring chords. The music seethes and swarms, whirs like a black drill-bit, and becomes both grim and imperious.
Meanwhile the drumming is in equally constant flux, firing like automatic weaponry, flying in acrobatic maneuvers, and inflicting thuggish punishment. On top of all that, Joe Jacobs, howls, barks, screams, and roars in a growl, like a bunch of famished pent-up beasts who’ve suddenly been uncaged.
Everlasting Spew will release the EP in a multitude of formats — CD, cassette tape, and digital, and they recommend it for fans of Skinless, Cattle Decapitation, or Psycroptic. Pre-orders will be available soon via the links below. Credit for the artwork goes to Ryan Kuder.
PRE-ORDERS:
[BUY PHYSICAL] https://bit.ly/3xEBavv
[BUY DIGITAL] https://bit.ly/3mueoBc
SEVERED HEADSHOP:
https://www.facebook.com/SeveredHeadshop