Placentophagia - Feast on Thyself (2012)

I'm not fan of artists who create graphic shock value through lyrics and album art. In fact, I hate them. Attempts to be disgusting just for the sake of being disgusting is a poor excuse for music, and I want to burn every record that drifts close a similar mindset one by one until they're eliminated from planet earth (with a few exceptions). Take, for example, the average goregrind or bodily-focused brutal death metal band. Often, they can't play their instruments adequately, nor can they be taken seriously.

Why am I going on this rant? Because a band I want to enjoy narrowly avoids falling into the trap, if for only one reason--their music isn't as ludicrous as what their peers spew from the depths of hell. Placentophagia has the vile lyrics. They have the rotten cover art. They even have the dreadful song titles. The Ontarians seemingly fit the formula to a T, nail on the head and all. The band's first EP provides the much needed--or detested--thrill for this sort of style, but they take a stab at composing something instrumentally-accomplished as a support for their mess of lyrics.

With the world flipped upside down, I'd enjoy the band right away, but with the cover art and corpse-like lyricism, it took a little finagling. Musically, the album is choppy and staccato-sounding, which I attribute to the less than stellar production, and hiding below the chaos is a young, fairly inexperienced band. Feast on Thyself looks good on paper; however, it sounds like a mechanical beast running through the motions, with heavy-handed guitar riffs and cursory grunting filling the gaps over what has been put to tape. On the flipside, there is more than a sliver of hope for the act, as they seem willing to break down any obstacle in an effort to advance toward their first full-length. From what I've seen of the current line-up, they are dedicated to their material, playing shows and giving out free copies of their music.

As always, music is entirely subjective. To be honest, I really want to like Placentophagia, and I do to some extent. But with their crude theme, as well as an automated brand of death metal, I find it hard to move past the "Hey, this is listenable" stage to the "Man, you gotta hear this. I dig it." Still, I can't help but think the band's whole deal is smugly tongue-in-cheek as they get a few laughs over shocked bystanders. Fortunately for Placentophagia, this is only their debut EP and it isn't uncommon to see a huge improvement around the time a full-length hits shelves, or in this day and age, cyberspace.

-TMA