When it comes to metallic microgenres, pornogrind is definitely the least evolved and most repulsive of the lot. That’s not even an insult; that’s just the truth. That’s also kind of the point, though, so fair play to bands like the Meatshits, Cock and Ball Torture, Torsofuck, and Gut, who fly their freak flag proudly and write the kind of lyrics that make Dying Fetus’ “Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog” read like pure Shakespeare. The musicianship is subpar at best, the aesthetic ranges from icky to unconscionable, the vocals tend to mimic a symphony of flushing toilets, copious amounts of drum machine abuse happens….It’s terrible, awful music.
And it also totally fucking rules! Funny how that works out.
When it comes to actually defining this abomination, the lines get real blurry, real quick. Pornogrind is, essentially, goregrind’s inbred, ain’t-quite-right first cousin; they’ve got a hell of a lot in common, but have enough disparities to warrant a separation (or, preferably a restraining order). When you factor in things like slam, brutal death, and cybergrind (which is apparently a thing?), it starts to get complicated, and hairs start splitting. What’s the difference between Cephalotripsy, Lividity, and Rompeprop? More than you’d think, actually. While Cephalotripsy’s slammity-slam-slam take on brutal death extols gory violence exclusively and Rompeprop add wacky, surrealist touches (see: “Vaginal Luftwaffe” and “Vulcanic Eskimo”) to their bouncy goregrind, perverted OGs Lividity stick to good old-fashioned porno samples and Neanderthal grooves. Make sense? Pay attention, there will be a quiz.
“It’s a difference of whether the lyrics/imagery are the means or the ends,” according to Stuff You Will Hate’s Sergeant D, who we tapped for some insight into the slammier end of the spectrum. “Slam’s thematic/lyrical content is just window dressing. they don’t really care what the lyrics/subject matter is, they just need to have SOMETHING so they default to gore. Pornogrind,, on the other hand, is kind of the opposite: the music exists as a vehicle for the lyrics/thematic content.”
As Sarge intimated, the most important factor when laying the mantle of “pornogrind” upon a misfit band is, of course, the “porno.” Besides the ubiquitous movie samples, the style also boasts an almost pathological obsession with sexual violence, fetishes, and gleeful celebrations of misogyny, sexism, incest, pedophilia, homophobia, and pretty much any offensive example of depravity imaginable. A quick survey of band names says it all (Sikfuk, Vulvectomy, Cemetery Rapist, Torsofuck, Rectal Smegma, Vomit Erection, Begging For Incest, Spermswamp, Dead, Cock and Ball Torture, Waco Jesus, et al), then the song titles add the icing on the cake. Cemetery Rapist, for example, have penned such charming little ditties as “Infant Bred for Incest,” “Two Fat Sluts Buttfucked With Pig Guts,” “Kiddie Twat,” and “Slant Eyed Sex Slave.” Even in that minuscule cross-section, we’ve got pedophilia, racism, sexual violence, and the ever-present gross-out factor; in other words, textbook pornogrind! Their mothers must be so proud.
Musically speaking, pornogrind generally takes a more simplistic, groovy, rock-based approach than goregrind, but also embraces the heavy use of drum machines and vocal effects (i.e. pitchshifting the bejesus out of everything to create the monotone cricket, toilet bowl flush, or even the odd pig squeal for those nostalgic for the early 2000’s). It’s also almost universally sloppy, underproduced, and often veers dangerously close to straight-up unlistenable.
So what’s the appeal? Even if you’re not bothered by violent or objectionable lyrical content (though if you are, uh…good luck), the subterranean production values and rampant lack of musical talent are surely too much for even the most open-minded of us to stomach, right?
Yes and no. I can only speak for my own guilty pleasure here (though I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that there are plenty more pornogrind fans out there who’d agree), but there’s just something about the boneheaded grooves and ridiculous vocals that strike a chord. This shit’s fun to listen to – it’s stupid and gross and kind of funny, like a D-grade sexploitation movie or that hilariously crap “black metal porno” that surfaced a few years back (looking’ at you, Dark Funeral!). The lyrics are ignorant and grossly offensive, but they’re supposed to be; lighten up a little. Love it, hate it, or ignore it – it is what it is, and given the insane number of Youtube results a “pornogrind” search will yield, it’s definitely not going anywhere. Pornogrind is the dustup of extreme metal.
So here’s to you, Cemetery Rapist, for keeping metal’s stupid side alive and well.
After all, not everyone wants to be Liturgy.
Cemetery Rapist – “Infant Bred For Incest”
. . .
Torsofuck – “Raped By Elephants”
. . .
Cock and Ball Torture – “Clit Blast Massacre”
. . .
Meat Shits – “Dismembered Then Raped”
. . .
Gut – “Fisted on the Dancefloor”
. . .
Even the funniest joke gets old after a while. With Austrian Death Machine it took all of half an album to get old . . . then they made the other half, and then a double album. That’s bad enough. Then there’s pornogrind, an entire microgenre that was probably funny for the course of one album.
No, thanks. Music first, lyrics (if at all) are of the least importance. Bring me Obituary’s wordless grunting.
When i need to make an example of how ridiculous “sub genres” can get, pornogrind tops the list, mostly b/c I’m in denial that it really exists.
Genuinely one of my favorite genres of music. Give me big stupid grooves over a zillion notes per second any day. Sewage vocals are always a plus, also.
So, when can we expect the NSBM article?
I would actually love to read such an article. There is so much of it that is so incredibly bad, but then there are a handful of bands that are so very good.
HA! Yeah, right. I doubt that would go well. If you want to open yourself for that kind of comment firestorm/symphony of “Nazi!” accusations, be my guest. Internet metallers are far too PC to accept something like that.
I think I’ll do just that.
Oh, I’ve long toyed w/ the idea of doing some kind of piece on NSBM… but I agree it’s not worth the shitstorm of misunderstanding and attacks by the PC police that would ensue.
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
“No such thing as bad publicity…unless it’s a horde of screaming keyboard warriors calling you a Nazi.”
To any one of you, or all of you really, what would you write about if you did an article about NSBM?
I would probably just do one of my “metal briefs” posts (link), where I give a quick write-up on the topic at hand and then explore it through short reviews of three different albums. The write-up part would probably be a little longer, to explain my feelings on the topic, but otherwise nothing would be too out of the ordinary for me.
Swastikas are just as bad as 100% Pedophilia sweatpants.
@RSJ – I think NSBM is just such a downright bizarre/unlikely cultural development that it’s worthy of discussion regardless of how much disdain one may have for National Socialism. Furthermore, there’s that age old conflict of “I find this band’s politics/beliefs utterly abhorrent, but I think the music is fantastic,” as well as the inherent desire to explore things that are considered “taboo,” that many of us probably have and likely what draws people to NSBM in the first place. Additionally, I think the subgenre ties in well with ongoing thread of art taking us to unfortable places, which runs through some of my previous THKD articles.
Well, if you embark on such journey, I volunteer to be the token contributing Jew and buffer some of the critique. That, or a discussion could unfold regarding what’s wrong with NSBM. That might be simpler.
This stuff is sort of like a “grosser than gross” game except it’s not played by kids in a schoolyard.
The only pornogrind bands I really like are XXX Maniak and Blood Duster, because they’re fully aware this genre is a joke and they have a grand time making fun of it.
XXX Maniak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72nIIDmh54
Blood Duster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orD3zvZsarU
There is literally nothing “totally fucking awesome” about pornogrind, it’s also not offensive…it’s just fucking stupid and the music is worse than the lyrics…it’s like someone threw the band gear in the special ed. room!
Fucking hell, guys. Can someone please just put this site out of its misery before the awesome name is completely ruined?
Aww. Here, I’ll fix that for you, Ruben:
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=other+metal+blog+&oq=other+metal+blog+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=hp.3…47282l48023l1l48267l6l6l0l0l0l3l180l738l1j5l6l0.frgbld.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=392598b632acbd3c&biw=1249&bih=684
That’s so funny. Now back to teh awesome pornogrind.
Mindless drum machine grind for almost-Juggalos. It’s only moderately amusing as a curiosity, not as actual music.
Bree all that you can bree
@Womeninmetal
I’m actually pretty knowledgable about this shit having gone to high school with a very pretty (!), well adjusted (!) female (!!!!!!) exchange student from Korea who just couldn’t get enough of it. For my money, it’s just as much of a self indulgent dead end as neo-classical shred, albeit displaying an inverse level of technical knowledge.
i’m surprised at the negativity. you’re entitled to it of course, but i dunno how metalheads wouldn’t find shit like Mucupurulent or Rompeprop totally fucking ROCKING! the shit is perfect live, it fulfills the same function as AC/DC, plus the subject matter is so far gone that you have a huge smile on your face while headbanging. compare that to watching Necrophagist or some lo-fi black metal shit…. pornogrind will always cause more fun!
Also, this link (nsfw!)
Personally I am not a fan of any kind of porno music, whether it be metal or rap. The themes are just to juvinile and even when I was a juvinile I thought it was too immature.
Regarding the tone of the site, one thing I respected Cosmo for is that he allowed negative comments to come his way and typically shut his naysayers up by outperforming thier expectations.
Now I see this site is moderating comments and deleting a lot of comments critical of the site or the writing. Censoring the critics is not the answer to your issues. And in the metal world is an absolute sin.
Good luck with it.
And I spelled “juvenile” wrong twice. Silly me.
“Fucking hell, guys. Can someone please just put this site out of its misery before the awesome name is completely ruined?”
This is still up, and ain’t no-one’s deleted it yet. And I would call it somewhat more than critical, wouldn’t you?
Article doesn’t mention Trashmop, clear journalism fail.
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE RWILLIAMS, FOOL.
The fact that everyone says it’s crap because it’s juvenile just shows that it’s gone over everyone’s heads
OK, I don’t necessarily have to disagree with your statement, but your logic is . . . well, there is no logic to your statement, at least that I can see. You’ve missed a few steps in the reasoning, or what you’re saying is just silly.
He’s saying that NO ONE making this music takes it seriously, so if you hate it because it’s too stupid, you don’t get it. I get facebook updates from Cemetery Rapist who is basically the embodiment of everything “bad” about this genre and is practically a neanderthal, and even HE gets it. This is like being mad at Tim and Eric or Step Brothers for not being high-brow enough.
So, not over heads, but more like trains passing in the night. Got it.
I’m not sure how much about pornogrind can go over someone’s head unless they’re doing handstands.
This post made me play Str8OuttaNorthcote, so kudos. Kyuss worshipping grind is the best kind of grind.
Kyuss-worshiping grind? Now I’m completely confused. I was already perplexed about what was grindy in pornogrind, but stoner metal and grind seem to exist at two ends of the spectrum, musically. Pornogrind sounds like simple, sludgy death metal to me. So what is grind in this context? Certainly not something Scum-era Napalm Death would recognize. I guess grind to me is a shorthand for grindcore.
Bloodduster started out way grindier than they are now, check out Fisting The Dead or the Menstrual Soup demo. As they progressed bassist and main song writer Jason PC got way into Kyuss, I read Sky Valley is his favorite album and Str8OuttaNorthcote has two over homages to that album, along with the general groove inherant in the songs he’d written.
There’s also overt southern rock influence in their sound too, but it’s all from a grindcore base, and they still carry enough elements of grind in whatever stuff they do to warrant some inclusion of a “grind” meta tag on every review.
I should clarify when I say an over southern rock influence in their sound, I mean on the Str8OuttaNorthcote/Cunt period before they went oz rock/grind with the self titled album.
Blood Duster were one of the best bands to play MDF in 2008.
Good band name would be “Sloppy Sevenths”
Also, it’s worth noting that Mikko Aspa of Deathspell Omega and Fleshpress used to be in a pornogrind band called Creamface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5UCS6XbkZI
Pornogrind IS totally awesome, and it is the perfect counterpoint to the idea that “good music” or “good taste in music” is actually a thing
@ watt par
nailonthehead.jpg
I have a Meatshits cassette from MANY years ago. I bought it for the name and stupid naked pics. One weird thing I read not that long ago and maybe I’m wrong, but wasn’t the drummer of Slipknot in Meatshits?
I googled this and while I didn’t find anything about Slipknot, I would recommend googling meat shits to anyone, it was good times. Especially this interview http://www.canadianassault.com/meatshitsinterview.htm
I know he used to be in Anal Blast.
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Anal_Blast/3024
This really comes right back to another discussion on this site many months ago. To look at a band and have adoration for their music but abhorrence of their lyrical content creates a kind of cognitive dissonance that to me anyway, is quite interesting. There have been many instances where I’ve said to a friend: “These guys are fucking retarded but listen to this riff!!!”
I’ve always liked to compare metal music to horror movies in that you can watch a movie about rape and murder without advocating rape or murder. But what if there was a niche genre of murder movies all about raping children? And what if an acquaintance of yours was really into these types of “niche movies”? What would you think of that person?
Given, the rape/exploitation of any woman is wrong. But when you see these acts portrayed in a movie it is not usually in a favorable light. And if it is in a favorable light, it involves willing adult participants.
What I’m saying is that the morality line is pretty hard to cross in metal, but the referenced band(s) above have crossed that line for me. They can keep their pedo out of my metal. I’m not that easily offended but there’s nothing metal about child abuse.
Nitpicking I guess, but “Kill Your Mother/Rape Your Dog” doesn’t really serve as a good reference point to this article, it has nothing to do with porno/goregrind lyrically; it’s about record companies and their watered down middle of the road music.
Kim isn’t calling that song porno/goregrind: it’s a reference to normal metal that, to an outsider, would still look/sound especially vile due to it’s title and lyrics. The point is that porno/goregrind go a million times further than that song. The phrasing is pretty straightforward in that first paragraph, but I guess you can choose to read however you like.
I’m not saying that she is; I was just saying its not a particularly good reference point, because it has nothing to do with gore or porn. The lyrics of that song don’t go very far at all. Even your basic Cannibal Corpse song is more vile than this one, it’s just one people seem to gravitate to because of the title. But, like I said, nitpicking.
Yes Carm, Anal Blast was it not Meat Shits. Thanks!
This is garbage … and personally I would rather watch porno than listen to a sound-bite … just sayin’