Fresh from the black pudding fields of Ramsbottom come Foetal Juice. Actually “fresh” wouldn’t really describe Sam, the vocalist of FJ (the new OJ?) when I first met him, as he was drenched in sweat after the band’s performance at the Incineration Fest. I had to admit there and then that I’d missed all his endeavours as I’d been watching someone else.
Anyway, I’ve done the decent thing and listened to Foetal Juice’s 2013 ep “Big Trouble in Little Vagina”. It’s brutally gruesomely awesome or awesomely brutally gruesome, as you will, and the lyrics of “Service Station Masturbation” should win the (Motorway) Services to Shakespeare legacy award or at least its deathly equivalent for literary excellence. But as “Big Trouble in Little Vagina” has been reviewed before, I’ll move on to this split between FJ and the American death metallers Human Landfill.
Let’s start by dissecting Foetal Juice. “Albert Grindstine” has song structure and even a memorably cutting metal riff line. This isn’t statutory for this genre, and all I could remember from “Big Trouble in Little Vagina” was being pummelled to death and having my brains blown out. Here too there’s loads of energy and brutality but it’s more classic metal and uniform than controversial, which may be a deliberate shift, but for me it lacked the pizazz to make me jump out of my zimmer frame – as a side note there’s an excellent “official” video of it, which is well worth watching. Moving on, I preferred the complex structure and all round brutality of “Blue Waffle”. Fast and furious, it has lots of firepower and sparks are flying everywhere. The mayhem is well controlled, and there’s a well worked break. So too the third outpouring “Tumour Has It” has all the necessary ingredients – the musical equivalent of razors, constant movement, aggression and firing drums. I liked its brain-twisting irregularity. This isn’t music for your coffee morning (I’d suggest going to a service station for a quick shot of caffeine but thanks to their previous opus FJ convinced me otherwise). Sparks fly, there’s no place for relaxation, and if you think you’re going to one place, you soon get taken in another direction. I personally preferred “Vagina” to be honest, as it’s more expressive and has more character, but FJ’s contribution to this split is still up there in the gory heights, and I can understand why Sam and his band mates might be covered in sweat after performing this sort of thing.
(7.5/10 for Foetal Juice)
Human Landfill were hitherto an unknown quantity to me. I’d guess they’re an unknown quantity to many people and are certainly as underground as it gets as they don’t seem to have any web site that I could find. Compared to FJ, the death metal content is purer. “Acid Vat Descent” has an interesting mix. The drum sets a fair pace, the death metal style is deep and dismal, Polish-style even which always goes down well with me, but like paint being splashed everywhere the brutality is spread far and wide. From this anarchic splattering, “Corpse Wine” presents a different aspect. Again it’s fresh, the riff line can be followed and it’s both engaging and brutal. Human Landfill impressed me. “Dirty Bomb Euthanization” is more chaos superimposed upon chaos, but again this track has good movement and flow. It was a pleasure to allow this juggernaut to shake my insides out.
(8/10 for Human Landfill)
If I were a doctor, I might prescribe warfarin to stem the flow of Foetal Juice, but I’m not. So let the juice flow. Both Foetal Juice and Human Landflll pack plenty of power and of course brutality into their act. All in all, listening to this split was a well spent and enjoyable twenty one minutes.
(Andrew Doherty)
https://www.facebook.com/FoetalJuice
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