Gutted With Broken Glass, Beaten to a Pulp
I have no idea what “Original Pirate Grind” is, nor do I really care. What I do is that Beaten to a Pulp let’s loose with a rage 14 ultra heavy, violent grindcore tracks in about 14 or so minutes. Mixing caustic elements and sound clips in a fashion similar to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, the group heaves healthy doses of gore, death and havoc into the mix for a dense, rank sound.
The guitars sound more like the rumblings of some mechanical beast whose sole purpose is to rip humanity apart, limb from limb. The drum machine programing is well done, taking barbaric blasts to the utmost levels, but keep from reaching into the absurdly fast regions. Make no mistakes, this side project from members of Rotting Stiffs, is a full on skull fucking dirge of violent aggression.
Headfuck
All right, here we go. Unrecognizable guttural vocals are nearly smothered with crushing slabs of grind while the drum machine blows a fuse at full throttle. Talk about an abusively, aggressive track to start out with.
Under the Black Flag
“Under the Black Flag” starts with burst of frenetic activity before a pirate sound clip comes in. It’s quickly gone and the band are back to the caustic blasts and uber guttural vocal growls. There’s a thick, distorted layer of static filth that seems to permeate the disc, giving the songs a raw, open wound feel.
GWBG
After a confusing sound clip, thick chunks of brutal death guitars accompany guttural growls and gurgling pig squeals for the remaining few second of the track.
Public Execution
Man, this is one high paced, acerbic track. It’s distorted sound is set on skull crushing low levels with frantic drum blasts and a vocal delivery that’s buried beneath layers and layers of festering corpses. At times, it’s tough to tell if there are even any vocals as the tracks are so discordant and noisy. I freakin’ love it!
Meat Wagon
I’m pretty sure the opening movie clip is from Chris Farley’s Tommy Boy which, if true, makes this track that much more classic. The clip is quick eradicated with crushing, chugging guitars and guttural growls. for the first 20 seconds there’s a decent groove, but it quickly succumbs to maniacal bursts of drum activity and thunderous riffs.
Drawn and Quartered
This one starts off with, and contains more elements of brutal death metal than it does grind. The opening guitars are memorable and evil as they churn along with pummeling rhythms.
Ramrod
“Ramrod” starts off with a classic clip from the movie Super Troopers and contains some nasty pig squeal graphics that suit the target characters personality perfectly. This thing has some monstrous riffs and ill tempered drum machine blasts. There’s some great brutal death riffing and slabs toward the end of the track.
Body in the Woods
I absolutely can’t get enough of the opening to this one. I’ve had this track on repeat for a few minutes now and that opening riff is badass every time. There’s a much more evil feel to this one as well that compliments the pig squeel vocals nicely. The chaotic feel to the track is a nice change from the chugging grind/death pummeling we’ve received thus far.
Pillage Plunder Grindcore
“Pillage Plunder Grindcore” is a full on crushing assault on the world. Aggressive riffing and unrelenting drum blasts attack the listener from every angle before the track slows momentarily for some ultra heavy rhythms and evil hooks.
Gutted Like A Pig
Man, this track is thick — thick like coagulating blood and plasma in a bathtub drain. There’s so many layers of noise on this one that the listener will be left FUBAR when it’s all said and done.
No Te Rajes
The group keeps the heavy and thick tones through this next track. This thing is like the marching orders for an army of sadistic pirate zombies hellbent on feasting upon your sorry ass. I love the guitars and noise around the :50 mark. This is one of the longer tracks at 1:30 plus in length.
Walk the Plank
“Walk the Plank” starts out with a great head banging bit of churning riffs and bludgeoning drum work, before it shifts into hyper violent blasts 30 seconds in — and subsequently ends moments later.
Bloodstained Minds
This one has a very distant sound to the guitars and vocals. It sounds completely unlike the rest of the laubm. The overal pace of the track is unrelenting, but the production on it sets it apart from the rest of the album.
Unmarked Grave
Following a classic scene from the movie Goodfellas, Gutted By Glass unleash unholy hell up on the listener with caustic riffing and maniacal drums. The vocals are complete unintelligible (as they have been through the entire album) and really add to the chaos of the first 50 seconds or so. At that :50 mark the band shifts into a breakdown of sorts with heavy as hell riffs and insanely guttural growls.
~ ~ ~
What more can you say about this debut release from California’s Gutted By Glass? The album isn’t really long enough to bore or get stagnate, but what it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in sheer and utter disregard for all things status quo. The guttural vocals are vicious. The guitars are so low tuned, noisy and heavy they nearly drown out everything else on the disc. And the drum programing matches the album’s mood and theme with hyper active blasts and unrelenting pace. Now, this isn’t a must have album, but it certainly is enjoyable as hell.
Favorite Tracks:
Pretty much all of them.
Additional Notes:
N/A