Lest you have any lingering doubts, Caustic Vomit is exactly what its name, album title and even label indicate: Heavy, blistering, skin-peeling caterwauling. Turgid doom riffs punctuated by thrash drum breaks and barely-intelligible growls. Three songs, each clocking in between nine and eleven minutes: "Churning Bowel Tunnels", "Once Coffined Malformities" and "Immured in Devouring Rot".

Right.

Caustic Vomit Festering Odes to Deformity (Redefining Darkness)

Clearly these boys are practitioners of the "too much is never enough" way of life. And I'm completely with them. It is true that these songs never reach the operatic heights of, say, My Dying Bride, and they are nowhere nearly as forward-thinking as Disembowlment (still the gold standard of this sound, despite that band's tiny discography). That's not really the point. Caustic Vomit is a thresher, reaping souls by the barrel.

Yes, mine is in the hopper, too. Music this basic and brutal taps into my reptilian brain and releases a slimy feeling throughout my body. There are those who don't like such things, but I'm the little kid who took his mom's keys and practiced "starting the car" by jamming them into electrical outlets. I loved the paralysis and burning sensation that ensued (I did this for at least a year before my mom caught me), and I couldn't wait to drive a car. Alas, they don't make cars that electrocute--though I hear Tesla has one in production.

The point of that digression is that Caustic Vomit is an acquired taste, even for those who are partial to loud music. There is no artifice here, no pretense of melody or any refinement. Just brutality expressed in ten-minute increments. And if the thought of that makes you go gooey as well, you are in for a treat. Enjoy the pain.

Jon Worley