EXIT WOUNDS, Exit Wounds  (2008, No Escape)

The skull:
Stark and bleak, this morbid looking photograph of a skull, brought into greater focus by the circle around it and without the distraction of words. Only the number 30 looms in the lower right quadrant, and this is, probably not coincidentally, the number of songs on this album. (Yes, they’re a grindcore band.) The skull’s left eye is so hollow, it’s black as the abyss and ends up looking like an eyepatch…and we dig eyepatched skulls here at Big Dumb Skulls HQ. And, unless it’s just a shadow, the upper right part of the cranium appears to be missing. This would probably be the “exit wound.” Clever.

The music:
There’s nothing interesting about this music whatsoever. It’s well-played, certainly, and I don’t doubt each member of this Polish band knows every Napalm Death, Nasum and Disrupt song title there is. I love ’80s and ’90s-era Napalm Death, and of course Terrorizer and other super-crazy death metal that intersects with grind, mostly from the older days, and I have been exposed to tons of grind over the decades (hey, I used to work at Relapse) but enough already! Give me something I can use. At least this album blazes by in a short 23 minutes…admittedly 23 very punishing, pummeling, violent minutes. I wonder what Friar Johnsen is listening to right now…
— Friar Wagner

OTARGOS, Fuck God – Disease Process  (2009, Rupture Music)

The skull:
This skull, shown in a stark black and white photograph, looks off into the distance as if thinking “Where are my fellows? Why am I not in a pile with them? Am I not a pile-worthy skull?” He’s sitting on a cliff face or some rock formation, embedded just enough to look like he’s hovering, and we’re glad he’s alone, because BDS does not accept skull piles (although there are many such album covers, and we respect that). Or perhaps he rests in a tomb, solitary, and grateful to the person who just opened the vault door, which would explain the light on the skull’s forehead. This photo offers much in the way of contemplation and guesswork. For something not very artistically imaginative, there’s plenty to ponder.

The music:
Technically this is very good stuff. Often lightning-speed, this French band’s black metal buzzes like prime Marduk with a slightly artier twist. They’re not afraid of sounding clean and clinical, and that puts across their coldness probably better than choosing to record “necro”/raw. Although each track offers an interesting riff here or mindblowing drum blast there, there’s not quite enough variation, and they’re going for a particular aesthetic that’s been run into the ground by now. But they do it very well. (The band plays Dark Funeral covers, if that helps tell you where their heads are at.) You need but check out opening track “Dawn of the Ethereal Monolith” to know whether this band is for you or not.
— Friar Wagner