Foetal Juice
“Masters of Absurdity”
Grindscene Records
Released 2.12.16

I made the schoolboy error of publishing my Top 10 Albums of 2016 on the last day of November. No one of worth releases new stuff in December, surely? I thought I was safe. Then on 2nd December Foetal Juice dropped this little bombshell, and the list went out the window.

Much respect to this Bury-based quartet for having all the enthusiasm, attack and fire at this stage of the game. Foetal Juice have been treading the boards for a decade, releasing demos and EPs and annoying church goers with song names like Big Trouble In Little Vagina, Brewkakke and Colostomy Baguette. In 2014 they made a video for killer single Albert Grindstein which has to be seen to be believed, and brought them 45,000 views on YouTube. Their shows in 2016 have been incendiary; no more so than at the Burning Manc Festival held at Sound Control at the beginning of this month. Foetal Juice blew everyone, including Melecesh, out of the building.

“Masters of Absurdity” is 35 minutes of brutal, violent noise. There is grind, crust, death metal, power violence, punk and black metal all over its grooves. The Foetal Juice sense of humour remains evident (Gin’ll Fix It, Booze Locust and Brutal Tooth are just three of the song titles). The band’s full throttle barrage has been caught beautifully at legendary Skyhammer Studio, where Chris Fielding has added some chunk to their riffs and some grunt to bassist Ben Read’s bottom end. There’s even a sublime Jeff Hanneman-esque guitar solo from Ryan Whittaker at the end of the absurd Nun So Vile.

Frontman Sam Read rips his throat to pieces on every track, and Rob Harris continues to defy gravity with his staccato snare bursts and double-bass-pedal drumming. These ten songs fly out of the traps until they’re brought to a staggering halt by closing tune More Hate, More Hell – which is three and a half minutes of jaw-dropping, pant-wetting ferocity.

What an album. What a set of performances. What an incredible band. Get buying.

10/10