Splatter Whore - City Of The Sleazehounds

City Of The Sleazehounds is the second and final studio album to date by American groovy goregrind band Splatter Whore. It marks a departure from the riff-focused gory groove of the first album / EP into a more lo-fi rock and roll with goregrind vocals kinda deal. This is pretty unusual in itself, but I find that the debut was also pretty accessible for a goregrind record. City Of The Sleazehounds, despite (I think) not being anywhere as good as the debut Kaviar Die Hards, presents yet another fresh angle on the goregrind sound.

The biggest disappointment for me is the step-down in production quality. Everything gets lost in the mix a lot more here, which is a crying shame if you were expecting an expansion on their super catchy metal-meets-goregrind approach. As a stand alone record though, its still an awesome listen. Think Exhumed recording in their garage with a bunch of crust punks at the helm. Not what I expected, but still a gem in the rough. 

Splatter Whore / Bowel Stew - Split 7"

I absolutely love Splatter Whore. It's a bit sad they have gone rather quiet these days, but their first album remains one of my favourite goregrind (or grind'n'roll!) releases ever. I wasn't as fussed on the second album (with an almost completely different line up, I believe) but this split 7" with Bowel Stew showcases material that displays openly the transition between records. The sound is fantastic and extremely well produced. The band are tighter than a virgin's pootang and the vocals are an absolutely insane watery hell. If you love stuff like Rompeprop you need to check out this band.

 

Long-running gore legends Bowel Stew don't quite reach the heights of awesomeness of Splatter Whore, but it's still a good effort. Pairing the filth of goregrind up with something altogether more brutal death metal, Bowel Stew blast and gurgle through seemingly endless amounts of untitled songs (or is that just one long song?). The vocals are nuts, just like Splatter Whore, but the main put-off for me here is the snare sound, which is quite possibly the most annoying thing on the planet. I've not heard a more irritating and puzzling snare drum sound since The Berzerker's rather flaccid The Reawakening album.

 

As far as I know this isn't too difficult to obtain on black vinyl, although the brown vinyl is only limited to 100 copies and is long sold out, obviously. This was put out a good few years ago now on Rotten Roll Rex from Spermany. Check out the online store! Unfortunately there are no links for this release on YouTube.