Hailing from the south of the UK, Evil Brain Taste have clearly been honing their skills in some blood-soaked, poly-lined basement, because the cheekily titled Number Two is one hell of a bruising ride. Impressively produced, it comes off the back of a self-titled, three-track demo, a six-track EP entitled I Am Evil Brain Taste,and various standalone releases. The effort has paid off, because Number Two is one hell of an intense trip into the twisted duo’s giddily unpleasant world.
Not that Evil Brain Taste’s world is a one-track ride through the shady realms of horror metal. Here, you’ll find humour (typically of the toilet variety), darkness (typically of the Christopher Lee variety), and more riffs than you could shake a particularly shitty stick at. The album impresses from the off as EBT wraps itself around your cerebral cortex before attempting to rip out your spine. Such is the effect of the feedback strewn, digitally enhanced nightmare with which Evil Brain Taste greet us, and things only get more depraved from there. Next, the band force their way into Life Is Scary, a horror-themed, genre-crossing melee of deathly riffs, scabrous vocals and bizarre, orchestral soundscapes. Wrongfooting the listener again, the band perform another stylistic shift for Cordell, as EBT channel their inner King Parrot, throwing ten pounds of grindcore around in a five-pound bag, before reaching a ridiculously overblown conclusion. Rather more straight forward, if anything about the album can be considered so, Clandestine Corpse Concealment is the catchiest slab of brutality you’ll hear all year, offering up a series of riffs you’ll air guitar to in your room, in the street, hell, probably in the shower… or maybe that’s just me. Things take an industrial turn, even nodding towards a little nu-metal groove, on Arithmophobia, a stabbing, pulsing melee of taut riffs and rhythmic vocals. Finally, the first side wraps up with the demented Cannibalise Me, a ferocious thrash number aimed squarely at the mosh pit. Think Overkill with vocals from The Great Cornholio and you’re in the right ballpark.
Opening the second side, Eatmore Meat Products is a cross between the barbershop adverts of the 50s, Devin Townsend and Napalm Death, with humour and brutality making easy bedfellows on a short, snappy track. In contrast, the dark groove of Creature Feature suggests what might have happened had Rob Zombie listened to Emperor. And the band aren’t done with us yet. Another track possessed of a catchiness that should have it labelled as a Class A substance, Dead Man’s Shoes is a four-minute advert for neck-braces masquerading as a song, and it totally rules. Darker and heavier Voodoo Challenge Ritual is a straightforward rampage through horror-infused thrash, the worryingly named Stench delivering riff after motherfucking riff, while Dark Side Of 40 is even heavier, planting its gore-encrusted boots into the grindcore mire, as Bone seeks to reduce his drumkit to so much sawdust. The album concludes with Off The Log, clearly the result of an unholy union betwixt Max Cavalera and an Oompa Loompa. It’s every bit as twisted as it sounds and, when the band introduce what appears to be the rich tones of the tuba, the album hits peak bizarre and everyone needs to lie down for a rest.
I’d not come across Evil Brain Taste before, but their email dragged me screaming into their world and I’m damned glad it did. A gloriously tawdry combination of influences ranging from grindcore to death metal, via Beavis and Butthead and DC comics, it’s a far more coherent, and far catchier album than it has any right to be. Time and again, the band demonstrate a remarkable ability to weld an addictive melody to a seriously weighty chassis, making for one hell of an enjoyable ride. A surprisingly brilliant release, check it out, you won’t regret it. 9/10
Number Two is released May 22nd and will be available via the band’s Bandcamp. It will also be available to stream via Spotify, YouTube etc.
