City of the Sleazehounds

Splatter Whore is a self confessed pornogrind/grind n' roll band from Illinois that focus their main efforts on incredibly misogynistic lyrics, crushing grooves, and thrashes reminiscent of countless crossover acts. Id say they remind me most of Toxic Holocaust, especially on the title track. While their were hints of thrash dating back as early as Kaviar Die-Hards, the band became increasingly thrash metal minded with the passage of time, also noted by the background on their myspace, featuring old vinyl copies of Sarcofago and Abigail albums I never really thought of them as being influenced by thrash, though, I always assumed the thrashes on Kaviar Die-Hards were meant to be grind thrashes. Because of the mix of hard rock and thrash, some tracks almost seem like old punk rock in the GG Allin vein, (seeing as how so many pornogrind and goregrind bands have an obsession with GG Allin.)

Now I must mention another standing out factor of this record, the lack of blast beats, and anything really grind except the vocals. I would say Splatter Whore's man influencer instrumentally, other than their thrash influences, is of course Blood Duster. As you may know Blood Duster hasn't been a grindcore band since the 1990's, but Splatter whore have never really been a full-fledged grind band other other than the vocals, as I mentioned before, as well as the lyrics and concepts which take on a more thrash metal tinged concept as well. Splatter Whore have taken the "grind n' roll" thing much further than Blood Duster ever did, considering the strangely consistent amount of solos more variation between songs, and even an uncanny use of melody.


There is one last important feature on City Of The Sleazehounds, which I still wish they had kept-John's watery pitch-shifted gurgles. Perhaps it was a relief for him to focus on his main instrument, but i still think they were really the star of the show when it came to SW's albums. John's drums are also more applicable to the new thrashy sound, less of the "can sound," as people like to call it. Robbie, the new vocalist who has taken over for John's pitch-shifting, certainly doesn't meet the same standards as John's vocals which reminded me of an alien with water-based lungs. While Robbie's vocals sound plenty wet, they aren't quite as aquatic sounding as John's, and they don't sound as if they are as many octaves down as John's Were. It almost seems like Roger's shrieks were supposed to be the main vocals this time around, with me initially leading to think the pitchshifted growls were meant to be backing vocals to SW's updated sound. However, Robbie's growls are not in the least bit inconsistent.

So there you have it, the best pornogrind release of 2009, I waited almost three months for it to come out as the result of a delay, and it was well worth it to say the least. My dad even loved this album! yes sir not one filler song here.

Standout tracks:

Post Apocalyptic Outlaws-great riffs, balance of vocals, and interesting lead at the chorus.

I Live In The Sewer-one of the best chorus riffs on the album.

Hell's Beach-BEST CONCEPT SONG EVER. music goes along well with the song title.

Sleazy East-sounds like old punk, as i mentioned previously

City Of The Sleazehounds-total thrash worship, i still think this could easily be a Toxic Holocaust song.

Blood Hunters-magnificent organ keyboard intro, lead, and groove.

NIghtshot Vertigo-probably the most grind song on the record

War In The Wasteland-Killer melody, lead, and best riff on the album.

Der Waldfurst Aus Oberasbach-one of the catchiest songs on the album.

Solo Scat At Leonrod-has to be one of the funniest song titles in history. The Intro is so reminiscent of Impetigo's "Revenge Of The Scabby Man." the end shows more melody.