Vermin Womb is a new band, formed by Ethan Lee Mc Carthy, known from his activities in Primitive Man (the review on Scorn was updated on October 21st 2013), and formerly in e.g. Death Of Self, Salo, Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire etc. As a matter of fact, this new band consists of quasi the same line-up as the latest one from Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire with just another drummer, and it isn’t that strange to consider this stuff at least ‘comparable to’.
Permanence is the debut, recorded in April 2014 with Dave Otero (think: Satan’s Host, Enemy Reign, Cattle Decapitation, Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire, Cephalic Carnage a.m.) at the helm. The EP lasts for eighteen minutes and as mentioned above, there is a very recognizable approach to his former main act. The EP brings six tracks that combine ultra-heavy grinding Death Metal, crusty Grindcore and a hint of dark Sludge. The focus, however, lies on the Grind-laden extremities, with noisy outbursts, blasting aggression, Punk-laden and no-nonsense Ultra-Crust (in fact this did not exist, until now; I just invented this), and apocalyptic-technical experiments in a mostly metallic way.
Besides Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire or Primitive man, also earlier Brutal Truth, the most extreme efforts of Nasum and Cattle Decapitation, Discordance Axis, Job For A Cowboy, Carcass or Pig Destroyer are possible references, and then I am not talking about the intensive brutality only. Also the ‘technical’ side of the monstrous game is high-levelled in Vermin Womb’s case, and that is what makes the Grind-scene interesting. Forget the average gore-splatter-slasher nonsense; it is way too cheap to combine Noise and Grindcore without balls. In this case, I am sure that the ‘true’ fan of intelligent extremities (with or without lederhosen) will enjoy this sick stuff with erectional pleasure.
I do not know what is going on, but the Grind-scene seems to be on a revival one cannot ignore. And with Vermin Womb this positive evolution isn’t but a start; no end to come yet!