Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay - Devolution

Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay

Devolution

United Guttural Records

Although releasing three full-length efforts and a couple of splits, Czech Republic based grindcore/death metal act Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay decided to call it a day in 2008 after eight years together, with members pursuing the newly founded Spineless Fuckers. But after two years, Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay have once again reformed with a new line-up (Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay/Spineless Fuckers’ vocalists Reef and Milcunt are joined by guitarist Motorak, Japka bassist Pyjus ‘Had’ Vypitkowicz and drummer Zahradnik), found a new home on United Guttural Records and put together a new release in the form of ‘Devolution’.

The best way to describe Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay’s sound to those unfamiliar with the band’s past efforts is pretty much your standard grindcore, but with a decidedly quirky slant in terms of vocals and in the song writing. Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay has never been the kind of band who concerns themselves with what is generally expected from a grindcore/death metal act. Instead, the band simply do what they want, and damn the consequences. This approach has worked O.K. for the band in the past, with their material at times sounding a little hit and miss in terms of consistency. And as you would expect, ‘Devolution’ too is a mixed bag, with the band’s bizarre sense of humour and warped song writing providing its fair share of strong and weaker moments.

After opening up the album with an edited piece of Clint Mansell’s haunting orchestral instrumental ‘Lux Æterna’ (Which was featured in the 2000 film ‘Requiem For A Dream’, which has been suitably re-titled to ‘Requiem For A Fury’), the band get the grind underway with the pulverising ‘Rumiste DC’. In typical fashion, scratching and hip hop influences are incorporated into the track, which as strange as it sounds, actually works quite well.

In a completely new twist, the title track ‘Devolution’ is filled with a variety of vocal performances (Everything from pig squeals, guttural growls and some off note clean gang vocals) that match the somewhat schizophrenic musical landscape within the song, while ‘Guys Who Are Falling In The End’, ‘Machinka’ and ‘Doctor From Mountains’ seamlessly blend grindcore, hardcore, and death metal alongside an assortment of different vocal approaches that render the songs indescribable in the genre sense.

With Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay back, it’s not all that surprising to see that ‘Devolution’ has quite a few older tracks re-recorded throughout the album. And while some purists may find the vocals and the overall production a little too far removed from the originals, for newcomers, tracks such as ‘Languish’, ‘Sea Of Weakness’ and ‘Lamentation’ definitely stand out as some of the album’s stronger and more straight forward efforts.

Also worthy of a mention is the band’s cover of Cock And Ball Torture’s ‘Heterosexual Testosterone Compressor’, which the band has given a new spin to.

If ‘Devolution’ has some issues, it’s that the humour can get a little lost sometimes on the listener, and that the recycling of older material gives the impression that the band were keen to get something new out to fans as quick as possible. But despite the small issues, ‘Devolution’ is a solid release overall, and one that fans of quirky grindcore should find worthwhile tracking down.

For more information on Mincing Fury And Guttural Clamour Of Queer Decay, check out - http://www.mincingfury.wz.cz/.

© Justin Donnelly.