Engorged back for benefit...and maybe beyond

What began as a two-off reunion last year is shaping up to be something a bit more long-lasting for the band Engorged.

“Within the last few weeks we started writing a new song, and it’s almost finished. That will be our first new songs since ’94,” reports guitarist Matt Smith.

Smith, singer Jesse DiGioia, guitarist Erik Thurston, drummer Steve Provost, and bass player Keith Mallet reunite as Engorged once again Saturday, June 16, for a show at The Raven in Worcester. The concert is a benefit for Stop the Bleeding, a grassroots organization that raises funds for services that aid the homeless, such as shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens.

Stop the Bleeding’s Metal Fest 4 at the Raven, 258 Pleasant St., Worcester, begins at 6 p.m. with The Quantum Mechanic. The line up then proceeds with Wrenchneck, Carnivora, Betrayed by Prophecy, Sorrowseed, Engorged, and Obsidian Tongue. Admission is $10, and all proceeds go to the Lighthouse Mission in Worcester.

Chris Schramm founded Stop the Bleeding seven years ago and has produced more than 30 benefit shows. A musician himself, Schramm uses a variety of bands for his events, covering rock, pop, and reggae. More info on the organization can be found online at http://letsstopthebleeding.org/

For his latest metal escapade, Schramm turned to a band whose two-show reunion last year left the local metal scene wanting more.

Engorged formed in 1992, right when death metal was coming into its own as a genre, and the band was among the first in Central Mass to put a local spin on the sound.

“We were lucky enough to catch the wave of death metal in its infancy, especially when Florida really exploded in 1990/1991. We were already in other bands at the time, but it was through that wave of death metal that we found our niche and found each other. It was actually a Suffocation/Dismember show somewhere back in 1992, if I remember correctly, that our paths crossed, and we were jamming together within a couple weeks,” DiGioia says.

The original lineup also included guitarist John Russell. The band was active until 1995, though only recorded a four-song demo, leaving behind little of its legacy.

Perhaps being so purely focused could only last so long. Smith departed in 1994 to explore other musical avenues_ metal and non-metal alike_ before wending his way back into heavy music first with Warhorse and now Faces of Bayon. DiGioia started the black metal band Blood Stone Sacrifice. Thurston, Mallet, and Provost are in Fires of Old.

But the sort of focus Engorged demands can also be inspiring.

“I started Faces of Bayon in the fall of 2008 and headed into a doom direction. When the call came to do Engorged again, I had to start shredding, and I found it was exactly what I needed to do. It really motivated me and challenged me,” Smith says.

DiGioia says the reunited Engorged is sticking to its original format of old-school death, even as the genre itself has blossomed with the work of a new generation of bands committed to the style.

“We follow the format from the early days of death metal. Very stripped down. Fast. Brutal. With pummeling, short breakdowns that really get things going. We like to get our point across like a fist to the face. I believe our longest song is about four minutes. It's a very pure and intense form of music. We prefer not to water it down, and we don't have a particular formula. If we feel it in our guts, and it gets us excited, then we use it,” DiGioia says.

The approach not only fired up the band, but fans responded too. Last fall’s performances at Bobfest in Allston and at Ralph’s in Worcester drew responses that DiGioa describes as overwhelming.

Smith says it was also fun to enter a scene that looks reborn with young bands.

“I thought it might be kind of cool to show the kids how it’s done,” he says, but more seriously adds, “I was really blown away when we saw how revered the band was when it came back. What we’re doing now is what we did in ’93 and ’94. When you’re in the middle of something, you have no real perspective on the impact it has.”

And now not only is there fan interest in seeing Engorged stay together, but the band members themselves think there is reason to carry on.

“When we’re together, it’s what it was like at the beginning,” Smith says. “Within the first hour of getting together to just hang out, you felt the same energy we had when we were first together.”

More "Death"

All right, you asked for more Death Fest pictures, so here they are. All photos by Sam McLennan, taken June 10 at The Palladium in Worcester.

Destroy the Legacy

Nemecide

Under a Serpent Sun

The Atlas Collapse

Vattnet Viskar

Necronomichrist

Fit for an Autopsy

Fit for an Autopsy

Pathogenic

Mr. Barnes

Living it up at Death Fest

Chris Barnes of Six Feet Under

Worcester Death Fest 2012 brought together both the architects and the acolytes of death metal for a 10-hour marathon of fat-necked basses, skinny-necked guitars,  double-bass drums, shredded vocals and gore June 10 at The Palladium.

Necronomichrist

Matt Desmond, above, and Mykel Raymond of Conforza

While not the sort of blowout that occurs at the annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, Death Fest was impressive on many levels. First, it was pure in design. Nothin’ but death _ though it did shed a light on the degrees of death. Second, it had Six Feet Under, Suffocation, and Dying Fetus under one roof _ SFU (and original Cannibal Corpse) singer Chris Barnes, Dying Fetus’ John Gallagher, and Suffocation’s Frank Mullen and Terrance Hobbs set up a lot of death-metal’s design back in the late ’80s and early ’90s and still push the boundaries of the genre. And lastly it spoke volumes about the region’s extreme music scene that more than 20 bands from Massachusetts and neighboring New England states could flesh out this bill into a real festival, and by “real” meaning the under-card acts were solid, well-honed bands, not desperate kids looking for a gig.

Like the NEMHF, Death Fest used both stages in The Palladium. Necronomichrist played a stand-out set in the smaller, upstairs room. With sinister keyboard fills punctuating its sound, the band brought some progressive edge to its death attack. Necronomichrist nicely balanced epic sweep and scrappy head banging.

           

Under a Serpent Sun also had a prog flourish to its extreme sound, thanks largely to Dylan Helm’s guitar solos. The Atlas Collapse let the groove carry its sound and worked the crowd with the passion and fury of a hardcore band. Pathogenic closed the second stage with a blast of aggressive grind that moved with a relentless chug.

The Atlas Collapse

Pathogenic

Under a Serpent Sun

 A bunch of the regional bands also played on the main stage before the touring acts took over. Conforza was a local that looked ready to hop on a tour bus any minute. The band was both intricate and furious, with singer Mykel Raymond roaming the stage like a lunatic and bassist Matt Desmond plucking neck-snapping riffs as the rest of the band set up dynamic shifts and turns.

           

New Hampshire-reared Vattnet Viskar and New Jersey’s Fit for an Autopsy were two up-and-coming bands showcased on the main stage. Vattnet Viskar layered ambient drones and tones across its the tightly coiled heavier parts of the songs. Fit for an Autopsy went more for explosive, raw energy.

           

Dave Davidson fired up Revocation’s set with his typically fierce guitar work. Revocation twisted up speedy thrash and technically challenging arrangements in a manner that set its extreme sound apart from the heavy dirge of other bands on the bill. Davidson and crew had fun with the genre’s wretched excess, especially when describing “Conjuring the Cataclysm” as a song about hot chick demons doing pleasantly filthy things.

Revocation

Revocation

Dying Fetus

Dying Fetus

           

Dying Fetus has never been known for its humor and the band kept it that way through a set of sheer brutality. The trio reached back for vintage death cuts such as “Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog,” mixing them in with songs from the album “Reign Supreme,” due out June 19.

Frank Mullen of Suffocation

Derek Boyer of Suffocation

Terrance Hobbs of Suffocation

 Suffocation followed, and while not as darkly brooding as the bands it played in between (the severely dark and heavily brooding Six Feet Under closed the fest), it still offered plenty of menace amid Mullen’s friendly, crazed banter.  “Abomination Reborn” took Suffocation into death’s horror camp, but for the most part the band used music to punch its way out of life’s crippling hypocrisies.

All of the above, Six Feet Under doing its thing

In the case of Six Feet Under, this band stakes death metal’s claim as music for outsiders who have no interest in being on the inside. If singer Barnes has a slogan, it’s probably “Stay the fuck away.”  At this now for 25 years, Barnes can still get to the guttural grunts and groans without losing the sharp edge of his disturbing lyrics. Wearing a “Face Eater” T in honor of recent headlines out of Florida, Barnes was scary and scabby, but compelling nonetheless as he unfurled  blood-stained numbers from Six Feet Under’s latest, “Undead” and reached back for Cannibal Corpse classics “Stripped, Raped, and Strangled” and “Hammer Smashed Face.”

All photos by Sam McLennan

Heavy on-sales

Tickets are on sale today, June 8, for Hatebreed's return to The Palladium in Worcester on Sept. 14. Whitechapel, All Shall Perish, and Deez Nuts join Hatebreed (pictured) on the bill. Tix are $20.

And Morbid Angel is coming to The Palladium on Sept. 29. Dark Funeral, Grave, and VadimVon are also playing. Tickets go on sale June 22 and are $25.

Tickets for both shows are available at Tickets.com.

"Seconds" coming

“Sloppy Seconds”

Sexcrement

(Comatose Music)

In the hammer-smashed world of death and gore, Sexcrement is carving out a nice little niche for itself with songs full of  carnal depravity and dark humor. Maybe the body count isn’t excessive on the band’s sophomore album “Sloppy Seconds,” but songs about drinking piss in hopes of catching a second-hand meth buzz are no less disturbing than ones about human butchery.

Singer Adam Mason’s bearish growl casts a pall over lyrical nuance, but song titles such as “Heard it Through the Rape Vine,” “Chemical Handcuffs” and “Assisted Living Lap Dance” get across the point.

Drummer Devon Hunt, guitarist Evan Duplessis, and bassist Blue Spinazola supply the songs with a bedrock groove. From there, it’s a matter of shifting tempos and creating contrasts to keep the 8-song disc chugging along. Duplessis uncorks some nice squealing leads and creates fluttering breakdowns that balance brutality with melody. The rhythm section too breaks from the norm with occasional light-touch, jazzy cymbal fills or funky bass lines for a bar or two.

Sexcrement, a staple in the Boston extreme scene, is playing Sunday, June 10, at The Palladium in Worcester as part of Worcester Death Fest. Six Feet Under, Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Revocation are on the upper part of the bill, and the day get going at 1 p.m. with about two dozen bands in all playing.

Comatose Music released “Sloppy Seconds” and the band has an appropriately disturbing video out for “Trucker Bombed,” the song inspired by tales of drug addicts scouring highways for discarded piss bottles.

Sound clips of boozy dialogue pop up between songs, enhancing this portrait of wretched excess.

Revocation domination

It shouldn’t be such a surprise that Revocation runs its metal all over the place. After all, this is a band that was as comfortable playing basement punk-rock shows in Allston as it was being part of the metal bills at O’Brien’s and Great Scott while coming up the ranks in Boston.

           

“I love the scene in Boston. Extreme bands and punk bands played together a lot,” says Dave Davidson, singer and guitarist for Revocation.

           

Since releasing “Chaos of Forms,” its second album for Relapse Records, Revocation has been on a roll leading up to its current tour with Six Feet Under and Dying Fetus. After that, Revocation is on a month-long trek with the Shockwave Fest headlined by Fear Factory.

           

The Six Feet Under tour hits the Palladium in Worcester on Sunday, June 10, as part of the daylong Worcester Death Fest. The show begins at 1 p.m. and features a slew of regional bands alongside Vattnet Viskar, Fit for an Autopsy, Revocation, Dying Fetus, Suffocation, and Six Feet Under.

           

Shock Wave is also at The Palladium, and happens July 25. That bill has Revocation playing with Fear Factory, Voivod, Cattle Decapitation, Misery Index, Havok, Dirge Within, Last Chance to Reason, and others.

           

“Our band is very diverse in terms of style. There are obvious elements of death and thrash, but we fit well playing with different kinds of bands,” Davidson says.

           

The band’s Relapse debut “Existence is Futile” showcased raw prowess, with Revocation layering technical gleam over death gloom while driving at a breakneck thrash speed.

           

But rather than replicate the effort that drew the band a mountain of praise, Revocation pushed itself on “Chaos of Forms.”  While the middle of the album holds to the band’s core values with the tunes “No Funeral,” "Fractal Entity” and "Chaos of Forms,” elsewhere the band stretches out. “Dissolution Ritual” slips a Latin groove into the middle of the song. And nobody could have predicted that Revocation would bring in horns and a Hammond organ, but that’s exactly what the band does on “The Watchers” _ and pulls it off.

           

“On each record we definitely want to sound like Revocation, but we also want to do something a little different,” Davidson says. “I think we keep common threads in our work, like using extreme vocals and making solo sections a big part of the songs.”

           

Adding second guitarist Dan Gargiulo to the lineup in 2010 beefed up the live show, says Davidson.

           

“Dan plays contrasting solos and brings a lot of layers and textures to the sound,” he says.

Davidson started the band with drummer Phil Dubois-Coyne and bassist Anthony Buda. Originally they went by Cryptic Warning, but changed names in 2006 once they firmed up a musical direction.

“When we were 17-year-olds, we saw Random Acts of Violence and knew that if we wanted to be in this scene we had to step up our game,” says Davidson. “That was definitely one of the bands out of Boston that was a big influence on us. We always said, ‘If we could just be as good as that band.’” 

The contamination begins

Yes, Abnormality is brutal, and it takes less than two second for the band’s new album “Contaminating the Hive Mind” to deliver a full-on sonic beat down. And to those who simply want to let the machine-gunning drums, wiry guitars and chopped up howl of vocal melodies knock them down, “Contaminating the Hive Mind” works like a charm.

           

But this record has more to offer than its pure physical aggression. Lyrically, the band puts up defiant criticism of political and social systems that breed apathy (and ultimately misery). Abnormality can also weave a pretty good future-shock yarn, as heard on “Monarch Omega,” a song the band shot a video for.

“Lyrically, I think we come at it a little differently than other bands,” says Abnormality guitarist Jeremy Henry. “We’re all political and have opinions. How can that not influence your music? I love death metal, but some of the gore gets overplayed.”

           

But don’t worry death fans, Abnormality has you covered, too, with the cannibalism gross-out of “Taste of Despair.”

           

Henry and fellow guitarist Ben Durgin recently weighed in on “Contaminating the Hive Mind,” which Sevared Records released June 1. Abnormality plays a CD-release show Thursday, June 7, at Ralph’s Diner in Worcester. Naegleria, Soul Remnants and Soul Annihilation are also on that Metal Thursday bill, which gets under way at 9 p.m..

 And then Abnormality embarks on a month-long coast-to-coast tour.

           

In 2005, a bunch of expats from other bands pulled together in Marlboro to form Abnormality. Singer Mallika Sundaramurthy , drummer Jay Blaisdell, and guitarist Henry are part of the original lineup. Bassist Josh Staples came on board in 2009, and Durgin joined the following year after the band shook out some differences of opinion about musical direction.

           

Sundaramurthy is a rarity in the extreme-music ranks, a woman who can summon a subsonic low-end growl while still meticulously controlling a staccato lyrical flow. Her vocal style and drummer Blaisdell’s propulsive work give Abnormality a strong foundation atop which the guitar and bass parts can maneuver with a degree of nuance that isn’t strictly tied to one orthodoxy.

           

“We weren’t trying to steer this in one direction,” Henry says. “The way we work definitely causes arguments and fighting, but in the long run it works out.”

           

And even when Abnormality thought it had some of the new songs worked out, the final results were surprisingly different once the band recorded the material.

           

“A lot of the songs took on their own life,” Henry says. “The songs evolve during the recording process.”

           

Durgin says he saw his job as serving the song, adding leads that were not so much what a metal head would expect, but what the song could bring as fresh meat to the metal feast.

           

“My biggest focus with my leads was to serve the song, while still pushing my technical limits,” Durgin writes in an email. “I'd like to think I accomplished that mission, especially with the ‘Schismatic’ solo. I love how it came out, but that thing is a pain in my ass. Well, more my left hand, I don't play guitar with my ass anymore.”

           

(And yeah, they don’t let the evil overtake their personalities, either).

           

While the technical chops are apparent, less obvious ingredient that gives Abnormality an edge, Henry says, is its songwriting. The sheer force of the music can cloud some of the details, which is true of any extreme music. But bands that have that level of detail_ be it Cannibal Corpse or Dillinger Escape Plan_ tend to be the ones that stick around.

“The writing is what gives us cohesion. You can’t be a bunch of solo-session players and expect a record or band to sound good,” Henry says. “We don’t want to be just brutal, or just technical, and it’s the writing that helps us find that balance.”

           

In addition to being sold at shows, “Contaminating the Hive Mind” can be ordered through the Sevared Records website, www.sevared.com, and is available on iTunes and other digital services.