Video Premiere: GUINEAPIG – Mermaid in a Manhole
“Hey, you got mermaid in my manhole!”
guineapig is an Italian goregrind band formed in 2013, fascinated by splatter movies, medical experiments, and rare diseases. 8 long years after their debut, guineapig is returning with their sophomore full-length, Parasite. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Marco Mastrobuono at Kick Recording Studio – Rome (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour Of Penance, Shores Of Null) the production is crisp and blistering, the tunes are gnarly and bludgeoning, and the song titles are oh-so-goregrind appropriate (“Zatypota” is naturally my fav).
Today the Toilet is pleased to be premiering the video for lead single “Mermaid in A Manhole” (warning: it is NSFW). Smash that play button down yonder and prepare to get spooked and stomped, y’all:
The video was directed by Marco Ristori and Luca Boni (Extreme Video) and features the talents of Italian performing artist Stelladiplastica and SFX and make-up artist Carlo Diamantini (‘All The Money In The World’, ‘Tale of Tales’). I was pleasantly grossed out and a little disoriented by the whole affair, so kudos to the whole crew for translating the feeling of listening to goregrind to a visual medium without resorting to the usual schlocky snuff tropes. Now do one with footage of Zatypota wasps ovipositing into their spider hosts.
Here’s guitarist/vocalist Fra with some background on the uncanny, stark imagery of the video:
“The core idea behind the video is that of decontextualizing an element notoriously recognized as beautiful and pure (the mermaid) immersed in a narrow, dark, dirty place (the manhole). In Homer’s Odyssey, the mermaid is a fascinating, but at the same time, dangerous being: in a place that is not precisely defined, the protagonist transforms herself, alters herself by changing her nature, without ever being a victim of what happens but always leading such events. The video plays with contrasts, opposites, black and white.”
Parasite will start spreading in June 2022 via Spikerot Records. You can pre-order it at bandcamp and the label’s EU and US stores here.
