Cryptworm’s 2022 Spewing Mephitic Putridity debut completely satisfied my shameful desires for a death metal album sounding like someone vomiting gut slime and mega-maggots for 33 minutes. It was repulsive, obnoxious, stupid, and fun. It was also really heavy, borrowing key chapters from Autopsy and early Carcass. I go back to it regularly, so the UK-based blokes did something right. Now hot on the heels of this grisly triumph, we get a brand new splatter platter called Oozing Radioactive Vomition, featuring cover art depicting a pack of n00bs having their first AMG promo sump excursion. They’re so cute! There have been some changes at Camp Crypt since last time, and instead of operating as a gruesome twosome, now it’s Tibor Hanyi with a new bassist and drummer in support. You know these tomb moldy fucks haven’t evolved in the scant time between releases, so you can expect more of the same bloody glop and scuzzy gunk heard last time, full of moist and pasty sub-sub-basement vocals and heavy caveman grooves thick enough to resist tank munitions. But can you rely on this to meet your intrinsic vomitcore needs?
The same things that made Spewing so refreshing are still interred here. Tibor’s insane death croaks and gurgles are still a total blast and since he’s completely incomprehensible, sometimes he sounds like the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show, and that’s just awesome. The opening title track is d-beaty, dumb, and fugly, with a loud, pongy snare that will annoy the fook outta most normal music lovers. People like us will love it though, along with the borderline slam tendencies, and wish they played this kind of stuff at the local mall and in office elevators. Huge chugs and fat, greasy grooves proliferate and over the top of it all lays Tibor’s repellant and infectious death gibberish. It’s a winning recipe here as it was on the debut. That said, the song feels like it runs too long at 5:45. This becomes a theme across Oozing, with every track in the 5-6 minute window. “Organ Snatcher” does quite a bit with its extended runtime, dabbling in Autopsy murder smut and Carcass gore with a jaunty, upbeat energy that makes the nastiness seem ironic, but it too feels too long in the end. “Necrophagous” fares fairly well despite the elongated lifespan, with a relentlessly vile, disgusting vibe full of slithering leads, bunker-busting grooves, and scuzzy, wet vocals.
The tendency to stretch out these highly toxic concoctions doesn’t work in the album’s favor. No selection is bad, but some tracks suffer more for their bloat than others, and nearly every cut feels like it should end before it finally does. At a slim 35 minutes, Oozing feels longer than it should due to the bloat, and that diminishes some good and very good death metal moments. The writing feels more formulaic this time as well, with certain tropes reoccurring across different tracks, giving the album a bit of a one-note vibe. The drum sound is another issue, with the snare set to “Pong Master Series.” It will work for some way more than others. Ultimately, it’s the combination of poor editing and homogenous writing that limits the impact Oozing has, though it remains an entertainingly raucous dose of Neanderthal death metal dipped in fresh poo-crust.
As with the last album, Tibor Hanyi absolutely kills it as a death metal vocalist, providing some of the most godawful, garbage disposal-esque vocalizing you’ll hear this year. I can’t get enough of his “garbage monster with Covid” style and hearing him regurgitate his guts makes me smile every time. He’s more than a capable guitarist as well and there are some notably cool, sticky riffs splashed across the album. He has a real knack for sick grooves and mammoth chugs and these serve the material well. It does seem like he fell back on generic d-beat leads too often this time though, making the songs bleed together into soupy shit-Jello. New drummer Jamie Wintle (Seprevation) does a fine job despite the merciless pong assault and he lays in some interesting fills and rolls amid the chugging and brutish d-beating.
I had some misgivings seeing a new Cryptworm platter so soon after the last one, and maybe the rush to follow up Spewing is why Oozing Radioactive Vomition feels less impactful. Still, I love what Cryptworm are all about so I’ll have a goodly amount of fun with this regardless. You will too if you’re a cellar-dwelling death metal scum leech. Test your Worm tolerance and self-diagnosis immediately.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Me Saco Un Ojo
Websites: cryptworm.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cryptworm
Releases Worldwide: December 15th, 2023
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