If the band name leaves a bad taste in your mouth… well, that’s because it’s crappy…
(Thanks. I’ll be here all week. Tip your waitress.)
You’d be forgiven for immediately thinking Poland’s regrettably named Ass To Mouth is some juvenile pornogrind or uber-super-brutal beatdown-breakdown death metal, but they are neither, though they’re clearly irreverent and certainly not shy when it comes to laying on the groove.
This particular brand of irreverence, however, is grindcore, death-infected and heavy on the hardcore swagger – think of the underrated Leng Tch’e, circa The Process Of Elimination, but not as clever and more knuckle-dragging, or a goofier Squash Bowels, or perhaps more on point, think of AtM’s fellow silly Poles in Neuropathia.
Formerly of Toxic Bonkers, vocalist Jakub “Qboot” Ziomkowski exhibits an impressive throaty, furnace-blast bellow alongside some goregrind-y pig-grunts and higher-pitched screams that never cross fully into protracted shrieking. The riffs and blasts are standard but functional, with select moments like “Drunk & Stoned” approaching a boozy grind’n’roll attack especially redolent of Neuropathia. Still, though nothing fails and most tracks are certainly enjoyable in the moment, one can’t help but shake the feeling that all of this has been done before, elsewhere, and equaled, if not completely bettered.
And therein lies the rub… There is quality herein: Opening number “44&41” is ripping, as are the likes of “Brainless Retards” (with its refrain of “shut the fuck up”) and “Dead Kaczynskis.” Superficially, “Idiot’s Crusade” appears to bait the easy targets of American conservatives, blending quotes on marijuana reform, on Christianity, and by GW Bush into one opening soundbite. None of those opinions (pro-marijuana, anti-religion, anti-Bush) is particularly controversial in grind circles, but at least the song, once it starts, is a rager. In fact, almost all of Degenerate is fun, but aside from the repeated Leaving Las Vegas samples (one of the few moments where a Nic Cage intrusion is not unwelcome), not a lot of the album sticks with the listener after the disc stops – there are some good punches, but little truly lasting damage.
Still, second-tier nature and half-effective goofiness aside, Degenerate is fine for what it is, at least enough so that it’s hard to truly dislike it. Though it’s not going to expand any horizons, it’s delivered capably and professionally, with a noticeable tongue-in-cheeks sense of humor. There are better grindcore records, quite a few of them, and some of them recent; grinders of all stripes can do better, but this is gleefully drunken party grind, so still, sometimes, in the heat of the moment, it’s forgivable to go Ass To Mouth.
