Egoleech

Bloody Stars, CBT. What else can be said about them? This band shares a lot in common with fellow pornogrinders Gut. Both bands come from the land of Germany, play devilishly delightful pornogrind/goregrind on the punkier side of the spectrum, sing about porn, can rile up a crowd and are just bounds of endless fun. Where they diverge in my opinion is their tone. CBT always felt more ‘serious’ to me, at least compared to Gut. Part of that may come from Gut’s atrocious mid-career, but Cock and Ball Torture had a presentation that complemented itself quite nicely and had heart, if that makes any sense. In my early days of collecting, CBT was one of the first CDs in my collection yet ‘Egoleech’ was one of the last to enter in for the band. It may have taken a while and cost too much but when I got this album… I think I found my favorite goregrind album of all time.

Much like my favorite Gut album, ‘Egoleech’ crosses the metallic line for goregrind. This is the most metal album CBT has released and it takes heavy influence from death and groove metal. CBT has always had a grooving chug to them, hence why they’re so mosh friendly, but god damn does this album get you to move! Think a more down-tuned and slower paced Pantera, with two heaping servings of death metal and goregrind. The riffing isn’t amazingly technical or complex, but compared to the band’s previous output, it’s more dynamic and has a stride to it that’s almost psychedelic, especially with the slower songs. The mid to slow pace structure of the songs really lets you breathe in that groove and absorb the weight of it. Nearly every song off this album has a riff dangerous to my health, as they all make me want to bang my head. These are some seriously infectious grooves. The only song exempt from this rule is ‘Be Raped/Bereaved’. It’s the only track off the album with riffs that just aren’t there for me, and hold ‘Egoleech’ back from being perfect, or at least more perfect. On the flip-side, have you ever wanted to hear God’s favorite goregrind song? Check out ‘Sharp and Slender’ and don’t be surprised when your dick grows an extra inch and you become immune to bullets.

What’s that crunching noise? Oh, it’s just the amazing guitar tone. CBT has always had a knack for great guitar tones, all filthy and bone breaking, so it’s no wonder they pioneered the term ‘bulldozing goregrind’. The guitars’ distortion and sound is a perfect match for the perverse, and grimy subject matter the bands presents. Pair it with those simplistic yet sweet riffs, and it sounds as if the guitar is slowly shambling towards you with malintent. This is also in synchronicity with the bass which is buried underneath the impending doom of the guitar. This not a detriment however, as the bass’ distortion adds to the atmosphere of sleaze. It buzzes along aggressively, like a light in a gas station bathroom while you’re getting assaulted. The guitar and bass combine to create a filth armada, whose only job is to endlessly churn our riffs of groovy devastation. These performances were courtesy of Tobias Augustin and Timo Pahlke respectively and they both crush it.

If Timo and Tobias crushed it on the album, then drummer and vocalist Sascha fucking atomized it, he uncreated it, he created reality just to make music then BRUTALIZED it. If you look up the word power in the dictionary, Sascha Pahlke’s drumming and vocals should be the third definition. Sascha had a way of commanding his aggression and channeling it through his drumming. There isn’t a blast beat to be found and Sascha consistently pumps out beat after beat down of excellence. The kit also lends itself to the album with its sound. Whether it be the tumbling toms, the crashing cymbals, the gut-punching bass drum or the weighty snare, the drums are as rambunctious as the rest of the instruments and then some. Then come Sascha’s vocals, and legend has it that Sascha pickled Satan’s testicles and ate them to achieve his vocals on this album. In all seriousness, the pitchshifts are the lowest and filthiest they’ve ever been on this album. They’re runny, sludgy and straight from the toilet. You also get the standard guttural frog vocals and a new addition to the CBT family: the death growl. Egoleech has the unique distinction of having three vocal styles instead of the usual two, and Sascha’s growls are testosterone incarnate. I take it CBT took influence from their deathgrind side-project ‘Bradyphagia’ to make this album and it absolutely shows in the most amazing way possible. All three vocals mesh well and create a bowl of brutal intensity.

CBT released Egoleech in 2004 and never released anything new since. The best we’ve gotten was an official rare materials compilation in 2006, an unofficial one in 2017, and represses of the band’s first EP in 2019. It’s safe to say that the band won’t produce anything new, so this as a conclusion to the band’s discography is satisfying to say the least. ‘Egoleech’ is everything goregrind should be: aggressive, catchy, mosh-friendly, awesome-sounding, perverted and just chocked full of german pornogrind funk. At first the songs may seem to be interchangeable, but on repeat listenings the tracks really start to pop out at you. An amazing album by an amazing band, which deserves an honorary spot in my top 10 metal albums of all time. This is a pornogrind masterpiece. But what the hell is an ‘Egoleech’ anyway?