Plasmodulated – An Ocean Ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell Review

An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell: the title of Plasmodulated’s debut full-length AND, if you can believe it, Old Man Hotz’ exact nickname in college. While fitting descriptors for each, it’s also what makes them so endearing. 

On a more serious note, or as serious as this review can be, the Floridian four-piece came to fruition as a Myk Colby (Wharflurch) side project. Despite having eyes set on the grotesque, Plasmodulated veer away from downtuned guitars, instead relying on uptuned savagery. Throughout the 40-minute duration, there are various nods to extreme metal subgenres, from thrash to death to doom. If you’re searching for a pinball-machine-bounce-around of sound, you’ll find it here. 

Sure, there’s some definite cosmic death metal deep within the DNA of Plasmodulated. While you’ll notice some Starspawn era Blood Incantation or The Key era Nocturnus with more guttural vocals, much of their sound can be tracedback to the legendary Voivod. In fact, the band is quite open about the Voivod influence. But An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell is like Voivod huffing the fumes of a crow carcass. I say that respectfully and as a compliment. I mean, check out that slam breakdown at the tail-end of “Enveloping Effluvium.” In the grand scheme of the album itself, it’s quite the contrast to a doomier song like the latter half of “Entering the Gastral Realm pt. 1 – Parasitic Mutant from Beyond” or “Gelatinous Mutation of Brewed Origin.” Still, what Plasmodulated finds within each is grime between brooding chugs and tremolo riffs. It all sounds like it emerged from a brain-eating amoeba-infested swamp. 

“Drowning in Sputum” is pure brainrot, as the youth says. As dumbed-down as the album is at times—again, in a good way—it’s equally technical and layered. See the title track. There are some straight-up Timeghoul vibes drenched in the blood of Voivod’s Dimension Hatröss, left to soak in the sticky Floridian humidity. In other words, it’s still gross. But other than the apparent knack for catchy riffing—the main riff on “Such Rapid Sphacelation” being my favorite—the mix on An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell may just be its strongest attribute. The low end isn’t ignored, but it’s not too much of a focus to weed out the leads. 

It wouldn’t be too crazy to compare its aura to that of Autopsy’s Mental Funeral either—with some sprinkles of Incantation’s Infernal Storm. Just turn the dial to “Trapped in the Plasmovoid” or “Excess Virulent Seepage.” Once you peel apart this moldy grilled cheese sandwich—and watch the innards slowly drift apart like threads hanging off an old, yellow pit-stained white t-shirt—you’ll notice that between each strand is another pinch harmonic or drum fill waiting to infest your gastrointestinal tract.

Once you’ve purged up chunky ropes of pink and yellow vomit—somewhere between expired marshmallow Peeps and bile-soaked nacho cheese—you’ll wipe your mouth, stagger upright and come to a beautiful, horrifying realization: Plasmodulated’s debut album absolutely rips.

An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell isn’t for the faint of heart or the clean of denim. No, this is a sickly good time engineered in a rusted-out van behind a 7-Eleven by guys with skullets, neckbeards and a suspicious knowledge of discontinued Mountain Dew flavors.

OK, half of that is true.

Two excessively sunburnt thumbs up.