As I grew older, I always expected my taste in music to mellow. In fact, it’s done the opposite. At age eleven, I was listening to ELO and the Eagles; now, I listen to death metal – bands such as Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Morbid Angel, Mithras, etc. I also go to metal gigs (I’m off to see Dark Tranquillity for the fourth time in a couple of weeks), and last year I went to my first metal festival (and I’m going again this year).

But.

There is one genre of extreme metal whose appeal completely escapes me: gore metal or gore-grind. I just don’t get it. The bands have silly obscene names, the album titles are also obscene (and the album artwork is worse), and the lyrics would probably be highly offensive if you could actually make out what the singer is saying.

I need only give the names of a few gore-grind bands in illustration…

• Bathtub Shitter
• Throb of Offal
• Splattered Entrails
• Putrified Genitalia
• Bowel Stew
• Hemorrhoidal Anal Suffering
• Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis

WARNING: don’t click on the links if you’re faint of heart or easily offended.

(PS: normal service will be resumed shortly on this blog.)