Pungent Stench
Praise The Names Of The Musical Assassins
[Nuclear Blast]


Pungent Stench have sadly been defunct for a number of years now. Luckily for the latecomers, this CD is an excellent retrospective of the career of Austria's most perverted death metal luminaries. Nineteen tracks choke full of straightforward, groovy, sometimes funked-up yet brutal, old school death metal encompass hard-to-find and out of print 7-inches, split EP's, compilation tracks as well as the band's first ever rehearsal demo known as "Mucous Secretion." The latter is absolutely the most extreme thing the band ever did. Ultra-raw production gives the music an extra-brutal, extra-nasty edge that rips your guts out and rubs them in your face. Bruuuuutal!

The CD's packaging is excellent too, including bunch of photographs from the band's archive, the list of all the shows they've played, the list of all their compilation and video appearances, original artwork from all of their releases, and, last but not least, the liner notes by the band's head honcho Mr. Alex Stench himself. One vexatious omission, though, is the absence of a track listing. No song titles are to be found anywhere in the booklet - a serious blunder - although it is specified with numbers which tracks are taken from which releases. Unfortunately, even that is not done properly. Where are tracks 13 and 14 taken from? But I guess I am beginning to sound like a grouch, so I'll just stop right here and say that this is a great farewell CD from a great band.


© 2000 boris