Album Review : Stomach - Parasite (2023)
If you hang out with metal musicians long enough, you'll start realizing something. They love to impress one another. "Bro, this guy is so tight and technical," is something you'll hear from them again and again. Technical mastery overtakes the very idea of making music that's enjoyable to hear. Everyone wants fans, but they want fans to like them on their own terms. That's why I cherish bands who nurture the visceral charge of their output and not all that many more recent bands bother to do that anymore.
But I found one last fall. It's called Stomach and they just released a rugged debut full-length album called Parasite.
Now, the first thing that comes to mind when listening to Parasite is Eyehategod. The big, unapologetic bluesy guitar riffs are unmistakable. I know it seems derivative when said like that, but Stomach is neither a ripoff or a worship band. They integrate their obvious Eyehategod influence into their own sound. The riffs are played in a slower, gruffier fashion which drains all of the New Orleans junkie nihilism out of them. Whatever Mike Williams has turned his back on, it's still being mourned here.
The opener to Parasite is called Crawlspace (Loom Ext.). As it is almost customary with sludge metal records, it starts with booming, ominous riffing and a cacophony of feedback. This one is so out of control, it's almost like a melody of its own. It's built around this nasty, obsessive riff the band loves to stretch up to absurd, abstract lengths in order to create a growing sense of unease. Frontman John Hoffman has bellowing style that demand your attention. It's uncomfortable in the best possible way.
Midnight in Pain features a more upbeat structure if I can even say that. It is upbeat in the same way a predator is when he finds a victim. There's something inexplicably rock n' roll about it in the way in builds anticipation and delivers these cathartic releases. There's an entire section of the songs (it's long eight minutes long) that consists in just a lingering guitar roar and bass that transitions into this slower, nastier part where the titular midnight pain sets in. Once again, the gnarly riff effortlessly carries the song.
The follow-up Double Lung Transplant (what an awesome song title) couldn't be any more different. It starts almost like a grindcore song before transitioning into a groovy, mid-tempo affair where John Hoffman's pained bellows are washed out in reverb. Tooth Decay is one of the most abstract songs on the record. It's much closer to Sunn 0))) than Eyehategod in terms of influence. I love how John Hoffman and Adam Tomlinson never revert to the bluesy riffs they so firmly clung to, so far.
It's a courageous decision. These two guys firmly don't give a shit about anything except making the doomiest record possible and they kind of did! I love my doom metal when it's abstract.
Ocular Migraine (what another awesome, visceral song title) is a darker, slower and heavier number. The blues influences are distended and deformed to a point they're barely recognizable. The chorus where John Hoffman howls "I FUCKING KNEW IT" over and over on serves as this linchpin and emotional core to the song, which otherwise would sound like a trip into the bowels of hell. It's not the notes that are played that matter on Ocular Migraine, but how they're played. It's so pained. Every note is leaned into.
This emotional high point on Parasite is followed by Train Track Argument, a judiciously placedf ifty second palate cleanser that lies somewhere between sludge metal and grindcore. It's slick and dangerous and over before you know it. Bathwater is perhaps my favorite song on Parasite. It's so weird and dissonant and features John Hoffman's most emotional performance on the record. It's a weird, feedback-drowned affair lead by Adam Tomlinson's purposeful drumming performance. It's an absolute head trip.
I'd be down with an album full of songs like this.
Stomach purposefully close Parasite with the song Stomach, a droning meditation on everything you've heard so far: bluesy riffs; an obnoxious amount of feedback; sparse, but purposeful drumming and an unpredictable vocal performance that kicks in two thirds into the song. Time also. Stomach (and doom metal in general) is very good at this: exploring how time and length can distort your understanding of music and Stomach (the song) is an unholy celebration of this idea.
*
Parasite is a solid record. It's heavy and nasty and plays with fun noisy, abstract ideas. It's also somewhat of a gateway drug into more extreme forms of doom metal. If you dig Stomach, there's a good chances bands like Wormphlegm, Senthil and Khanate will also appeal to you. The dedication to pain and visceral feelings and imagery displayed by John Hoffman and Adam Tomlinson here is commendable. Parasite felt like they have another gear they can kick into, but this is a smart, enjoyable and cathartic record.
