(written by Islander)
If you see people like these, your first impulse (a sensible one) would be to run first, ask questions later. And you absolutely should run, as fast as you can, but toward their music, not away from it.
Take it from me, a first-hand observer of the unhinged Cartilage performance in Seattle at the 2022 edition of Northwest Terror Fest, their live shows are about as much hell-raising fun as you could want. Their recorded music is kickass too. When we premiered their second album The Deader the Better (also in 2022), I spewed a lot of words, including these:
Cartilage discharge songs that slash like serial killers, convulse in seizures, sear like an acetylene torch, maul like bulldozers, and lurch like zombies (the slow ones, not the fast ones), and as crazed and kaleidoscopic as the songs usually are, they’re cleverly embedded with hook-y melodies and head-moving grooves.
On top of all that, Cartilage manage to make the tracks feel feral even though it quickly becomes evident that all the instrumentalists have got lots of top-shelf technical chops (enough to make prog and tech-death bands jealous) and a sense of twisted adventurousness in the way they write songs.
But don’t take my word for it. Take the word of the dependably tasteful Everlasting Spew Records, who signed Cartilage for the release of their new EP, Tales From The Entrails: A Necrology. Here’s how the label introduces this new feast of frenzy:
The Bay Area gore titans continue to spill their guts across the land but with new tools in their trade: twisting harmonies and cinematic set-pieces now compliment Cartilage’s arsenal of blistering blasts, ripcord riffs, and deranged shrieks fans know to expect. Tales from the Entrails: A Necrology offers the biggest color palette on a Cartilage release to date. Now with even more shades of red!
More shades of red! And hell yes that’s true, as you’ll discover for yourselves through our premiere of a vividly named song from the new EP: “Frothed Vomit Slosh” “FROTHED VOMIT SLOSH!”
On the one hand, this is vicious death/grinding savagery that will rev your internal engines by pumping out skull-popping beats, gut-rumbling bass-lines, and feverishly ravenous riffage, as well as maniacal screams and ghastly gutturals.
Cartilage also stomp on the accelerator about 48 seconds into the song, and keep stomping on it harder, creating an even more crazed and exhilarating attack, with those gruesome vocals screeching and vomiting the words just as fast as the maniacal drumming and insectile fretwork, all of it building toward a closing crescendo of sheer lunacy.
On the other hand, even in those first 48 second the lead guitar spins out a beautifully toned and immediately beguiling melody that you wouldn’t see coming (except we just spoiled the surprise), and later the guitarists follow that with a spinning kaleidoscope of blurting, squirming, and moaning sensations (with some freakishly quivering tones in the mix as well).
And on the third hand, despite how deranged the song is, it’s once again clear how technically proficient the performers are and how quickly and sharply they switch things up, so that the song is as head-spinning as it is savage.
Well, that’s our own linguistic frothed vomit slosh about the song. Here’s what Cartilage says about it:
“Guts set ablaze by your irresponsible habits. Gorging on everything in sight just to satisfy an appetite that can’t be explained. Sick riffs, blasts and grooves that’ll make any coward violently regurgitate their own FROTHED VOMIT SLOSH!”
CARTILAGE is:
Vocals: Mark Wallace
Lead Guitar: Mike Flory
Rhythm Guitar: Ria Flory
Bass: Kienan Hamilton
Drums: Adam Houmam
MORE CREDITS: For the new EP Cartilage took their studio operations to home base, enlisting Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City, Ghoul, Thrice) for recording and mixing duties, while the genre’s perennial grindfather Leon del Muerte (Impaled, Exhumed, Nails) handled the mastering.
Everlasting Spew will release Tales from the Entrails: A Necrology on March 14th, on CD, tape, and digital formats, with a vinyl edition projected for summer 2025. They recommend it for fans of Exhumed, Impaled, Carcass, and Pharmacist. Order it now!
PRE-ORDER:
[BUY PHYSICAL] https://bit.ly/3E5sNzR
[BUY DIGITAL] https://bit.ly/4gcZSXW
CARTILAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/cartilagesf