EXCLUSIVE TRACK PREMIERE: NOTHINGNESS’ “TRENCHANT GLUNCH”
“Trenchant Glunch” sure is a cool-sounding name. I bet it means something pretty brutal. Let’s see what Merriam Webster has to say about these words. OK, ‘trenchant’ is defined as “keen, sharp; vigorously effective; caustic; sharply perceptive; penetrating; clear-cut, distinct.’ Huh. Well, I guess maybe there’s something to work with there. Caustic could be cool. I’ll bet ‘glunch’ is something badass. Let’s check the dictionary again. Oh. Huh. Apparently it means ‘a sour or glum look’ and is primarily a Scottish word. So, a trenchant glunch is something like a caustic glare. Well, the song title isn’t as brutal as I thought it might be, but the track certainly is. Buckle up as I discuss mean looks from this Minneapolis sextet. I wonder if they wear pink on Wednesdays?
“Trenchant Glunch” is the 4th track on the third full length album by the band, entitled Godslaughter. Their debut, The Hollow Gaze of Death (2019) was an independent release, which apparently caught the attention of the mighty Italian death metal label Everlasting Spew Records. 2023 brought Supraliminal on ESR, and also quite a bit of attention from the underground metal scene, including yours truly. That album was a ripper of dissodeath, with a vicious tenacity that grabbed and pummeled the listener into a barren oblivion. This latest album builds on that, showing the band to be a real player in the US and international death metal scene. Of the new album, the band writes:
Godslaughter is a confrontation. Where Supraliminal was largely a look inwards, our new record is a glare out into the world, and a concise statement that gradually unfurls into the excess of oblivion.
Confrontation indeed! “Trenchant Glunch’ starts with almost martial percussion and grinding guitar floating beside it. Skronky riffs join the feral growl of the vocals as the track builds towards a deranged evolution into swirling chaos. The track moves back and forth between the evil marching music and the vortex of madness as it progresses, and even throws a brief, but exceptionally mean lead solo in just before the halfway point. In many ways, this track (and the album as a whole) remind me of an auditory representation of the album cover (by Adam Yates), which features a corpse-blue decapitated head, eyes popping out, splitting in various places to release blood red viscera, which is surrounded by a web of demonic faces. Perhaps the look on the face of the corpse head is a trenchant glunch.
As you can hear, this one is an absolute banger. The entire album is a consistently feral attack on the senses. I expect this one to blow up even more than Supraliminal. Don’t sleep!
Godslaughter will be available through Everlasting Spew Records website and Bandcamp on July 31, 2026 on CD, Cassette, and Digital formats. Vinyl is expected from the label in late autumn 2026.
