Putrid Offal – Obliterated Life (I Settled on This Grind)

 

At first I thought I was settling on this, because these past two weeks for promos have been wretched. Typical metal, and other genres, with not a lick of creativity to differentiate any of it from what I’ve heard a million times. So then I’m looking here at France’s Putrid Offal, who’ve been around since the early days of grind. They could be considered the kind of cult that a good, Eurotrash B-horror film on VHS was back in the day (and still is). Suddenly, they up and disappeared, and then without warning, much like VHS collecting, made a comeback in the mid-2010s. I was thinking I’ve had enough of the same old old, but I liked the simplicity of the cover of their new one here and I was desperate for something, so I said screw it, let’s check out Obliterated Life. Did I just settle?

   

Boy does this shit bring me back to high school and some of the crud I listened to. Putrid Offal are definitely from that era. You can hear it in a variety of ways and, honestly speaking, Obliterated Life seems redundant at first glance; we’ve got those dual vocals (one set low, one high) that were popular at the time, guitars and bass run through a table saw, and of course themes running a full course meal of entrails and medical terminology. To be further honest, this one just barely received a 4 from me. It was right on the edge, until… Boy did these guys bring it for certain tracks! When you look past the typicity you’ll find Putrid Offal have an amazing amount of thickness. I mean like low, powerful, and bass-infused. This is extremely noticeable, and addicting, in some of the tracks, such as “Boning Hall,” which has such a powerful edge it could sell the entire album with its beastly groove. However, Obliterated Life should properly be considered a mix of songs like that, and others that are generally forgettable. If it were not for the moments of absolute slam I wouldn’t have graded this as high, but I think it’s worth giving Putrid Offal a chance as they refashion their sound and try to separate from the past, if that is, indeed, the goal.

 

Putrid Offal Official Instagram

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Putrid Offal – Obliterated Life
Time to Kill Records
Cover Art: Band
4 / 5