Ghoul – Noxious Concotions (Grossover)
I’m fairly surprised I never reviewed Ghoul before. I mean this shit is right up the alley I’ve built around myself and my critics on this site. We’ve branded ourselves so deep the scar went into bone. And with Ghoul we’ve got darkness, irony, vileness, sick art, gross stage presence (with bloody, burlap hoods, cool) and so forth. For some reason I don’t recall a single promo from them ever coming through the email. Did I miss them? Maybe, but at least I can finally give them an ounce of my drool about their latest EP, Noxious Concoctions. This is also quite timely as these maniacs haven’t released anything substantial for almost nine years now! Is this a comeback?
Let’s call it a comeback. Ghoul return in full form, with a much cleaner form of what I’d like to call grossover (that’s like crossover with gross themes). Some of their earlier work, like Maniaxe, had that sound, but with a thicker goo sticking to everything that, at times, hid the bite of the riffs. Here, however, though we only have four tracks to gorge upon (forget the fifth because I hate covers), it’s a satisfyingly virulent feast. Ghoul deserve the attention they’ve gathered over the years, because their own definition of “splatterthrash” has been consistently outlined in nearly all of their work. It’s, at times, ironic, self-deprecating, disgusting, wrapping the listener in reels from moldy VHS tapes that sat in a creeper uncle’s basement closet upon shag carpet stained with liquids better left undetermined (how’s that for metaphorical). There are few bands that are this aware of their own gimmick and constantly play it off like they’re unaware. Neither cocky, nor entirely serious, Ghoul show they’ve likely got years of vomiting upon us until their death rattle sets in.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Ghoul – Noxious Concotions
Tankcrimes
Cover Art: DecoNoir Art
4.5 / 5
