Entrailwyrm- The Meticulous Fattening

by Rev. Walter Beck

From the bowels of hell, and by bowels of hell I mean Chicago, comes Entrailwyrm, a collection of three guys with a bent\"\" sense of humor and taste for harsh droning noise. Returning after a three-year break comes their newest assault on the eardrums, The Meticulous Fattening.

This is a two-track experiment in the bounds of noise, with the first cut “Always Say Never” stretching out for ten minutes of pure sonic fire. Unlike many noise acts who attack with straight speed, Entrailwyrm stretches out their noise, creating a slow, creeping, doom style soundscape, full of lo-fi distortions of guitars, drums and other instruments. The effect of the music itself is hypnotic, almost peaceful in its no-fi audio roar.

The vocals sound more akin to a black metal than noise, very high pitched and squealing, but a ghastly squealing, as opposed to the squealing often found in grindcore. Like the instrumentations, the vocals are heavily distorted and complete incomprehensible. I honestly have no idea what this guy is singing about. But that doesn’t matter, the vocals done in this style become an instrument all their own.

The trio really shows their twisted humor with the second cut “Calamitous Offering to the Big Clown in the Sky Who Flips All Burgers”. Don’t ask me what it means, I have no idea. The cut is in a similar vein to “Always Say Never” with the over-distorted and under-produced instrumentation and harsh, squealing vocals, although it clocks in at just over six minutes. I guess the guys ran a bit out of steam on the second go around for this album.

If you’re unfamiliar with the noise scene, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this record, but if you have a taste for the bounds of sound, it’s worth checking out. I know the band doesn’t take themselves all that seriously, but they’ve released a pretty good little harsh noise record that’s definitely worth picking up. And here’s the good news, you can get it for free at their website, http://entrailwyrm.bandcamp.com/.