Flush It Friday: Free Death? In This Economy?!?
As Grandma Ghoulson used to say: Thank Fuck It’s Friday
On this most gracious of week’s ends, I’ve once again found myself appreciating one of the most interesting pockets of metal culture in the 2020s—free death.
Coined by one-man band Effluence, free death describes a sound somewhere between brutal death metal, grindcore, avant-garde metal, free jazz, and brutal prog. All this is to say: it’s loud, speeding metal with improvisational compositions and general chaos.
Crazed supergroup Encenathrahk is often cited as the genesis point of the style, as the band (made up of members of Behold… the Arctopus, Krallice, The Flying Luttenbachers, Gorguts, and way too many more to count) were some of the first to marry the stranger sides of slam/brutal death metal with the complexity of free improv’s most unhinged acts (think stuff like AMM, Nurse With Wound, etc.). The end result is about as frenzied as you’d expect, with records like the self-titled and Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake having more in common with a psychedelic-drug-induced panic attack than any Suffocation record.
That said, their DNA can be traced back to various different places. The band themselves cite Enmity, Last Days of Humanity, and the bizarre-o Indonesian brutal death metal scene (with the band Total Rusak being mentioned by name). Beyond that, their sound is also seemingly informed by avant-slam acts like Dripping and the jazzgrind experiments of John Zorn (specifically Naked City and Painkiller). All this is to say, their brand of death metal is busy and indecipherable, with much of the enjoyment coming from the massive walls of sound and pulpy sonic texturing.
Zooming outward, we can see a better picture of the rest of the scene through a compilation record released last year, titled I Can’t Believe It’s Not Encenathrahk. While researching the bands included in the release, I stumbled across a rumor that most of the “bands” listed were just Encenathrahk under various pseudonyms. I do not have any proof of this, but I also certainly believe it. Any and all research on bands like Drug Possession, Verklärte, and Counterinfibulated Misanthetics was fruitless, to say the least. The bands I could find proof of existing exemplify this “free death” banner pretty well. I’ll go through those acts and some more that I think are worth your time below.
Effluence
Probably the most discussed band featured here, as Matt Stephens’ “free death” works have captured the hearts and minds of many terminally online metalheads. Stephens has a background in jazz that shines through the intense blend of brutal death metal, technical death metal, goregrind, and noise. He is probably the most accomplished artist in the musical pocket—and he’s got way more coming soon.
Trichomoniasis
Decently similar to Effluence, but with a much stronger emphasis on slam death metal. Sonically, this group’s sound is incredibly loud, dense, and murky. They bring a real heft to this sound and personify the excessive gore and muck of their progenitors. One of the more intense recommendations here; listen to these guys if you want your goddamned face blown off.
Vulnificus
These guys definitely lean closer to strange slam than “free death,” but they fit it pretty nicely with this wave of music (plus they were on the compilation mentioned previously). Their take on the oft-maligned slamming brutal death metal is far from bog-standard, as they utilize some interesting compositions that really lay on the frenzied chaos. What more could you ask for? (If you ask for more you will be punished severely.)
Perverted Dexterity
The last of the bands on the I Can’t Believe… compilation, Perverted Dexterity are a part of the Indonesian BDM scene cited by Encenathrahk, which is why I assume they made it onto the record in question. Much like Vulnificus, these guys aren’t nearly as jazz/improv influenced as others in this line, but they serve as one of many genesis points of this new niche of extreme metal.
Torture
Torture exemplifies the concept of brutal death metal with improvisational performances, creating a sound that is just as jarring as it is pummeling. Their records all center around themes of anti-American-imperialism, particularly the USA’s countless war crimes in the Middle East. While more political than most of their peers, both inside and outside of “free death,” this band backs up their conceptual framings with some of the most strikingly heavy and minimalist death metal I’ve ever heard.
ByoNoiseGenerator
These guys are about as vicious and frantic as a band can get, tearing their way through the grind, BDM, and avant-jazz with an inhuman level of energy. I hear a lot of the experimental Russian extreme metal bands in their sound, particularly 7 H.Target. Some of the most proficient musicianship you could hear in a slam record, while still maintaining the ignorant pounding any slamhead needs from their music.
SARMAT
While not as heavy as any of the other bands on this list, SARMAT is probably the jazziest. Their musicianship is a lot easier to discern due to a cleaner (cleaner, still not very clear) production style and extremely tight band synergy. However you slice it, these jazzheads rip in a way your local bar band three-piece could only imagine in their darkest nightmares.
Now that you have your small list of recommended listening—let’s get to your required reading!!! (Any user found skipping the required reading assignment will be skinned, flogged, and waterboarded. :3)
TMP, courtesy of Joaquin Stick, showed off some great singles from Cosmic Putrefacation, Pillar of Light, and Ingurgitating Oblivion. Rolderathis also hit us with some upcoming records from Blighted Eye, Coffin Rot, Glacial Tomb, and more on this Tuesday’s most recent Toilet.
Good old 365 alerted us to a new Cryptopsy shirt that I am only a little ashamed to admit I’d wear.
Sean Ghoulson (who the fuck is that guy?!) had quite a bit to say about the upcoming Undeath album:
The newest episode of Toilet Radio finds Joe and 365 talking about the latest gossip around some of the worst musicians you wish you didn’t know (the episode also features a new track from not-worst band Pøltergeist):
Aaron wrote a review detailing the future of The Black Dahlia Murder going forward:
IGoM gave us the verdict on Devenial Verdict in this exclusive track premiere:
That should be it, you lovely freaks. Don’t forget to drop your G.B.U.s or I’ll have to drop you…
G – Going on a trip this weekend–ought to be fun.
B – I’m thoroughly convinced God wanted me to have a heart attack this week; shit was fucked.
U – How exhausted my damn brain is right now…
