Pungent Stench Club Mondo Bizzarre (Import)

Pungent Stench: El Cochino (guitar, vocals), Highjack (bass), Sex Slave (drums).
Additional personnel: Wolfgang Shalom, Michi Munster (backround vocals).
Recorded at Sing Sang Studios, Vienna, Austria.
All songs written or co-written by members of Pungent Stench.
On Club Mondo Bizarre, Pungent Stench tones down its grindcore/death metal similar to how Carcass and Entombed toned down theirs on Heartwork and Wolverine Blues, respectively, putting more emphasis on clear-cut song structuring with memorable riff-driven verses and vocal-chorus hooks. And when Pungent Stench slows down its riffs and focuses on heaviness rather than speed, the group's songs benefit tremendously, making this its strongest album. Furthermore, the vocals on Club Mondo Bizarre are a vast improvement over the group's preceding work; the growling is just as monstrous, but the lyrics are at times less appalling and more humorous on songs such as "Choked for a Joke" and "Klyster Boogie." Still, not everything is a joke here, as most of the songs are still intentionally disturbing, but the few humorous moments provide clues to the fact that the group isn't entirely serious. Overall, this is a well-executed album that takes the brutal aggression of death metal and funnels it into accessible, well-written song structures. And like Heartwork and Wolverine Blues, Club Mondo Bizarre features a death metal group mature and confident enough to concentrate on making quality music rather than adhering to the death metal underground's often self-defeating faster-is-better mentality. ~ Jason Birchmeier

• Format: CD
• Genre: Heavy Metal