Corpsefucking Art - Tomatized

Angry Metal Guy

There are albums that choose you, and Corpsefucking Art chose me. Even for a band known for their comedy, Tomatized surprised me. There are certain subjects you cover for a brutal death/slam/goregrind band, with plenty of gore and torment populating its lyric sheets – even if the pig-squealed “EEEEEEEE” is the only thing you hear. Tomatized has all that and a Lovecraftian vibe: “Earth shall be ruled by a new breed of sentient beings!” the promo proudly proclaims. Okay, sentient beings dethroning humanity isn’t too odd for death metal. “Behold the kingdom of cyclopic tomatoes!” Wait, what?

Italy’s Corpsefucking Art has been around in some form or another since 1993. While earlier works were run-of-the-bloody-mill gorefests of grimy brutal death, it wasn’t until 2003’s Splatter Deluxe that they cut out the gravy and derailed into goofy territory.¹ Likewise, the idea of sentient “tomators” overthrowing humanity dates back to the song “Voracious Tomatoes” from 2014’s Quel Cimitero Accanto Alla Villa. So really, I shouldn’t have been surprised by Tomatized, but don’t let tomatoes distract you from the fact that Corpsefucking Art hits with a sloppy megaton groove that’ll get your head bobbing sometimes. Bottom-scraping growls, downtuned riffs, plodding drumming – it sure is there. And nothing else.

Corpsefucking Art’s breed of goregrind/brutal death metal is about as bare bones as you get. There’s no technicality, no variation to the commanding roar – all in favor of the groove. Tracks like “Hell of the Living Dead,” “Phantasm” and “The Book of the Dead” all feature curb-stomping riffs with a hint of slam that recall the reasons you started listening to Carcass or Cannibal Corpse, while more blazing tremolo populates “Alien vs. Tomator” and “A Nightmare on Tomato Street.” For better or for worse, Tomatized is a remarkably straightforward, knuckle-dragging goregrind affair that offers no technicality or variation. While offering absolutely nothing to the most seasoned listeners and brutal death newcomers alike, something is refreshing about its dumb simplicity.² The shifty rhythm in “The Book of the Dead” and layered harmony of “Escape from Alpha City” add a brief jolt of energy, while the ambient interlude spoken word and horror audio segment in “Dead Sushi” is a reprieve, if not a cringeworthy one.

Even for its brief thirty-minute runtime, Corpsefucking Art starts sounding ridiculously tired early on. While it features dummy thicc guitar, that’s about all it’s got. Every track features some variation of the same three Carcass riffs and chord progressions with death growls exclusively dominating the proceedings, lacking variety or charisma. The guitars, despite their proclamation of slimy, still feel sterile and over-produced. I also never thought I would say that I wished Tomatized had pong, but here we are, because the dull “thunk” of the snare gets lost immediately in the sea of tomato-infested booty riffs. It feels like a joke; it’s a fun sound you can trap your friend into listening to an album about sentient tomatoes, but the novelty wears off almost immediately. Tracks sound identical thanks to its monotonal palette, leaning too much on the tomato-themed theme and robbing Corpsefucking Art of the opportunity to prove their versatility after over thirty years of experience.

Tomatized is the audio equivalent of mixing tomato paste and water and calling it marinara.³ Corpsefucking Art sure is brutal and they can groove, but repeated spins poke holes in the sound. It’s about as exciting as early Abominable Putridity, Fatuous Rump, or Devangelic: flaunting that knuckle-dragging groove but lacking the technicality, variation, or songwriting chops to support it. The comedy is a nice change-up from the semi-serious barbarity of the style, but that doesn’t mean much. Tomatized is about tomatoes that dethrone mankind, but Corpsefucking Art ain’t dethroning goregrind, brutal death, or slam royalty anytime soon.



Rating: 1.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Comatose Music
Website: facebook.com/corpseeffingart
Releases Worldwide: October 4th, 2024

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