Vulvodynia - Psychosadistic Design

Artist: Vulvodynia
Release Title: Psychosadistic Design
Year: 2016
Label: Lacerated Enemy Records
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Psychosadistic Design
2. Drowned in Vomit
3. King Emesis
4. Castration Mutilation
5. Flesh Tailor
6. Unparalleled Insubordination
7. Grotesque Schizophrenia
8. Lord of Plagues
9. Depraved Paraphilia
10. Forced Fecal Ingestion
11. Umthakathi
12. Bestial Insemination
13. Wall of Corpses

Having burst into the scene’s conscious, South African slammers Vulvodynia have managed to become one of the top acts in the style with their dynamic blend of brutal, heavy and inhumanely powerful sound which has turned them into a force to be reckoned with. Continuing to infuse more technicality into their slam, the group’s second full-length album was originally released June 30, 2016 on new-label Lacerated Enemy Records.

As has become the norm for the band, the whole exercise is built around the ultra-deep churning riffing bringing along wave after wave of pummeling slams. The ability of the band to wrap these slams around tight, squealing rhythms and deep, chugging breakdowns gives this one the stuttering, steady patterns featured commonly in deathcore-centered rhythms as the mid-tempo rhythms provide a sterling launching point to follow up on the overdose of slamming patterns. This slam-heavy approach is all given a brutal beatdown in the continued usage of frenzied, explosive technically-challenging riffing that was introduced in their last release and adds a strong dynamic to the bands’ approach by allowing the infusion of tight, frantic riffing that piles on the slams in the slower tempos while offering an alternative in the upper tempos that still manages to whip out plenty of high-impact brutality that goes along so well together. That really does leave this one with a rather enjoyable attack that’s ferocious, impactful and devastating while showcasing only a few minor issues here. They can cool it on the lame horror-film samples that nearly everyone uses in their intros and bring aboard a slightly more cohesive sense of spacing here with the album’s organization being a little shoddy, but overall there’s plenty to enjoy here.

Still quite evocative of their style and generally one of the more explosive and enjoyable efforts in the genre, there’s so much to really enjoy here that this one manages to get quite a large number of brutal death fans on it’s side as there’s plenty for those into the slam-heavy side or the more traditional practitioners alike.

Score: 94/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://laceratedenemyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vulvodynia-psychosadistic-design

Vulvodynia - Finis Omnium Ignoratiam EP

Artist: Vulvodynia
Release Title: Finis Omnium Ignorantiam EP
Year: 2015 (2016 reissue)
Label: Vicious Instinct Records (Transcending Records re-issue)
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. New World Order
2. Superluminal Wormhole Divulgation
3. Paenuntius Descends
4. The Bilderberg Extermination
5. Consuming Thee Illuminatus
6. Genetically Reengineered Repugnance
7. Infinite Darkness
8. Raped, Pillaged & Gutted (Waking the Cadaver cover)

Wasting little time between releases, South African slammers Vulvodynia have taken the momentum gathered on their debut to quickly turn around into another stellar, stand-out release. Managing to fix the critical issue with the last album by trimming it down into a solid EP release, this was originally released July 31, 2015 on Vicious Instinct Records before a vinyl re-issue in September 2016 on Transcending Records.

Containing the same basic outline and formula as the last release, this is yet again another stellar and outstanding slam-filled release that contains the type of relentless approach that utterly overwhelms with the amount of slams it supports. Going into the same chug-filled approach in between the music and containing the kind of generally appealing deathcore-styled breakdowns wrapped alongside the stuttering rhythms throughout, the album is a dense, heavy and thickly-layered assault that’s pretty pummeling in it’s display and overall technically-improved output as that becomes the main selling point with this one in it’s overall growth of technical proficiency. The riffing is a lot more challenging and dexterous here with the enhanced running time of the tracks allowing for a more dynamic display of riffing present here and it’s quite an extremely impressive addition to their ravenous slam-based approach. Likewise, the trimming of the tracks down doesn’t affect this one all that much either as there’s plenty of fantastic moments spread throughout here that comes off as impactful as it does in accordance with the blasting slams featured here. There’s just so much to like with this one that it becomes far more enjoyable than the initial debut.

One of the better releases in the year overall and easily their finest work yet, this release fixes the minor problem from the past album while continuing to focus heavily on their sound going forward, managing to appeal wholly for the bands’ previous fans as well as brutal or slam death metal fans in general.

Score: 96/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.transcendingrecords.com/cgi-bin/productDetails.cgi?pid=9502&cid=

Vulvodynia - Cognizant Castigation

Artist: Vulvodynia
Release Title: Cognizant Castigation
Year: 2014 (2016 re-issue)
Label: Vicious Instinct Records (Transcending Records re-issue)
Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Molecular Reconstruction
2. The Oppressor Unseen
3. Enslaved and Subservient
4. Monetary Malevolence
5. Unveiling the Abomination
6. Anti-machination
7. Tesla
8. High Frequency Active Auroral Research Engine [H.A.A.R.P]
9. Indoctrinated into the Void
10. Pathogen X
11. Diverge, Transmute, Alter.
12. Insurrection
13. Interdimensional Abnormality
14. Pollsmoor

Starting in early 2014, South African slammers Vulvodynia have quickly stormed that specific scene that allowed them to form their first releases in the calendar year with an EP released quickly before this first release. Still continuing the trend of including an instrumental version of the album alongside the regular release, the bands’ full-length debut was originally released in that manner October 31, 2014 before another release December 11, 2014 on Vicious Instinct Records that dropped the instrumental versions and is now ready for a vinyl re-issue in September 2016 on Transcending Records.

Offering up plenty of brutal moments, the dominant aspect to be found here is the high-impact slams that are featured throughout here which manage to generate a large amount of the work within the album here. The slow, heavy wave of riffing present here is rather impressive and dynamic, offering the kind of generous slam patterns to be featured heavily while weaving between the tight deathcore-styled breakdowns and the stylistic chugging that pops up here leading into the next wave of slams. That level of violence is kept up pretty consistently here with the vicious riffing holding the slam patterns up-front and center here which gives it the kind of room to maneuver throughout the main rhythms that also manages to feature much more traditional brutal death metal blasting in their attack with some stuttering syncopated riffing and tight choppy patterns that are incorporated incredibly well alongside the slams and chugging. Though all of this is quite fun and makes for a wholly enjoyable slam-based release, the fact that the album is just way too overlong and contains too many tracks is the main downfall here with this one seemingly going on somewhat past it’s useful point as it gets to a point of being yet another over-the-top beatdown with slams and chugging riffing that the album does feel incredibly overlong here with this many tracks here offering the same overall approach, and it would probably be utterly unbearable with the instrumental versions tacked on that also comes as a potential release variant.

While their main point of dissent here is merely the overanxious zeal of a debut with too many elements featured and feeling quite overcrowded, there’s more than enough here to really like about it that there’s plenty of appeal here for any kind of brutal or slam aficionado to really get into with this one.

Score: 85/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.transcendingrecords.com/cgi-bin/productDetails.cgi?pid=9501&cid=