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"Until singers can grow extra heads and someone invents a drummer who can outplay the Gatling Gun, this is the shit"
Bravewords and Bloody Knuckles
Terrorizer # 102 September 2002
Reviews
Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope
Like many others, I
had been waiting a long time for this record, as I'm a big fan of
the Nosebleed, but upon the first few listens I wasn't exactly
enthused. Months later I still can't make up my mind 100% as to
how I feel about the record, but I can say this: The songs rip,
the recording does not. It's just too rugged and inconsistent.
Some of the songs are pretty clear and heavy, others have a
really thin and abrasive guitar tone that adds a bit too much
noise to the mix, peaking the output levels to distortion.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed is still one of the only bands that can use
a drum machine properly (i.e. making it sound pretty tolerable
and programming the beats in an appropriate and rather complex
fashion that perfectly accentuates the tracks), and the drum
machines are one of the most consistent elements of the record.
One thing that immediately makes "Frozen Corpse Stuffed With
Dope" stand out from the band's previous work is that
there's a larger lineup taking part. In addition to the standards
(Scott Hull and J. Randall), Carl Schultz takes over some of the
vocal duties (as well as penning some lyrics), and Richard
Johnson (formerly of Enemy Soil and The Index) takes care of the
bass and some of the vocals. Among the guest appearances are
"phonecore" vocals from Killjoy and Pete Ponitkoff (on
"Machine Gun" and "Repercussions in the Life of an
Opportunistic, Pseudo Intellectual Jackass", respectively),
bass and vocals from Dan Lilker on a cover of the almighty
Nuclear Assault's "Hang the Pope", and a few
experimental noise tracks from J. Randall's Agnostronic Blunt
project. All of this makes the record feel a lot more diverse as
a whole. There's still a lot of blinding speed and straight
grindcore, but there are also some darker, more dissonant riffs,
some plodding slow breaks, a few tracks with more of a crazy punk
type of sound, brief outbursts of total 80's thrash, rampant
screaming galore, and so on. One thing that I fucking love is the
artwork. All of the paintings and the lettering were done by
Hydra Head honcho Aaron Turner and it really gives the layout a
different look. The art has its own style, the lettering looks
very cool, and the layout itself is fucking awesome. There are
tons of band photos, a really compact lyrical presentation, a
bunch of bizarre additional texts, and it's all printed on matte
paper. Great stuff. It really makes the booklet an interesting
addition. Lyrically things are pretty wild, as silly song titles
like "Unwashed Cock", "Blind Hatred Finds a
Tit", or "Fuckmaker" might suggest: "You're
real gay about pussy. Your bitch has got you looking in a
magazine for clothes. Homo. All I'm buying a bitch is a bag of
shit to choke on." Of course, there are some songs that are
more serious, in some deluded way, but generally things are
pretty insane. In the end the positive is that "Frozen
Corpse Stuffed With Dope" is Agoraphobic Nosebleed taking
things to a new level. or two, or three. The negative is that the
production can hinder the impact of the material. But still, it
shreds a pretty good deal. I mean, shit. 38 tracks in about 33
minutes? Not bad. The more I spin it, the more I get used to it,
and the more I dig it.
Running time - 33:22, Tracks: 38
[Notable tracks: Repercussions in the Life of an Opportunistic,
Pseudo Intellectual Jackass, Doctored Results, Hang the Pope,
Manual Trauma, Ambulance Burning, Bullshit Gets Up and Walks
Around, Organ Donor, Someone's Daughter, Fuckmaker]
Bravewords and Bloody Knuckles
Agoraphobic
Nosebleed mastermind Scott Hull (also of Pig Destroyer fame) is a
genius. Plain and simple. Whether you might view this grind
extravaganza as mere senseless noise and racket, the way on how
Mr. Hull assembled such album is really overwhelming in a sense.
38 digitally vicious blasting chapters that define every moment
of purifying genre defining grind, the way Hull interweaves his
deadly and technically severe guitar licks amongst practically
the best drum programming I have ever heard within this digitally
paralyzing nightmare. But more characteristically, another
formation which takes this blazing release to another level in
itself is the dialogue crunching vocal attack courtesy of
Agoraphobic Nosebleed long runner Jay Randall, along with
newcomers Carl Schultz and Richard Johnson. And this is only a
fine slice of the picture, as FCSWD is an album that offers so
much variety and character that it's almost unexplainable, and
sometimes even seems like an insane write off. There's not one
tiring moment on this fabulous release, one that's filled with
musical and engineering wizardry along with many ludicrous insane
moments, but most of all a lethal integrity that shouldn't be
underestimated
Chris Bruni 9.5
Boston's Weekly Dig
I don’t know about you, but this has been one of my most anticipated albums of the last three years, ever since Relapse announced that Agoraphobic’s new full-length would indeed be called Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope. Let’s face it: it’s the sort of album title that merits an 8 out of 10 rating regardless of what it actually sounds like. Luckily, ANb aren’t just trading in names. Forgoing the mindless blur of 1998’s Honkey Reduction in favor of the considerably more focused (and disturbing) power electronics and blastbeat tyranny of 1999’s Poacher Diaries split with Converge, ANb deliver trauma upon trauma with such fleeting grind torpedoes as “Engineering a Pill Frenzy," “Kill Theme for American Apeshit" and the Godflesh-inspired “Doctored Results." The songs may not get much longer (only one track cracks the two-minute mark), but the titles certainly get better: “Unwashed Cock," “Repercussions in the Life of an Opportunistic, Pseudo-Intellectual Jackass" and “Bullshit Gets Up and Walks Around" are amongst a score of priceless high-speed jams (38 tracks in all). With new ANb recruits Richard Johnson and C. A. Schultz joining noise terrorist Jay Randall and six-string machine-gunner Scott Hull (also of Pig Destroyer), Frozen Corpse… ups the ante on the grind game and mows down everything foolish enough to get in the way. J Bennet
Digital Metal
Bands like
Agoraphobic Nosebleed make or break with me on their willingness
and ability to inject a little flava into the whir. Listening to
thirty-plus minutes of hypergurgle is no more innately
interesting than listening to an electric fan. (I'm weirdly
fascinated by the fact that we finally have bands whose music
imitates the sounds of appliances; Dark Funeral sounds like a
sewing machine, Krisiun sounds like a blender, Mortician sounds
like a garbage disposal. Wonder what Chairman Mao would say?)
Great grind-noise-whatever bands manage to impress a sense of
personality, whether it's fun-lovin (Exit-13), goofy (Ghoul), or
legitimately deranged (Pig Destroyer.) And AN does it too, with a
worldview that contains greasy helpings of all three
above-mentioned categories. Of course there are the odd
slow-downs and break-ups, noise tracks, and samples; but that's
forest-for-the-trees shit. What you really want to grok is the
package as a whole. Like all great grind albums, Frozen Corpse
Stuffed With Dope is best experienced all at once, so that
the total effect can swim on in. And the total effect here is a
fucking waster, like being dosed with acid then locked in a
Gravitron with your ex-girlfriend. The music is wildly
disorienting and almost totally random; it's hard to believe the
rhythm tracks are programmed. It just keeps diving and lurching
at you in nuggets of drugged, oily misanthropy. In venom alone,
this is like the stoned (therefore human, but no less evil)
counterpart to December Wolves' brilliant Blasterpiece Theatre,
but AN seems to actually have an agenda that goes beyond
annihilation. When they talk about dosing water towers and
shooting busloads of rich kids, sure, it's a hoot, but it seems
to cut a little deeper, they seem to be giving Charlie Manson an
army of bionic she-devils instead of an army of runaway tards.
The lyrics and the artwork all project a subtle, self-aware
surrealism. The band this most reminds me of is Eyehategod (only
in a really big hurry) and it don't get sweeter'n that. I
guess "vibe" is a goddamned ridiculous criteria to use
in a review, but it really is the nutmaker here. I can't explain
why AN have recorded such a slaughterhouse, and I can't explain
why most other bands suck shit. (Unless they're French, in which
case I believe I can.) But this album instantly has Agoraphobic
Nosebleed keeping company with Pig Destroyer and Circle Of Dead
Children. This album doesn't sound like an appliance, it sounds
like a fucking gas chamber. Wonder what Chairman Charlie would
say?
Jeff Lamb
Extreme Noise
'Frozen Corpse...' is one of the best albums of the year. You think I'm joking? If so, then you haven't heard this purely devastating album. For all the tabloid-influenced title implies, 'Frozen Corpse...' delivers the proverbial goods. 'Frozen Corpse...' is an unrelenting, sand-blasting tour de force. Pay close attention to the machine-gun nature of the drum machines which are thoroughly decapitating. Scott Hull's guitars swirl and grind with much aplomb and the dual vocal poison supplied by J. Randall and Carl Schultz is sure to piss off just about everyone with a conscience. Richard Johnson's bass supplies the leaden bottom end. 38 hyper-intensive tracks of sheer, demented madness play out like a depraved, pornographic, gutter-influenced Punch and Judy show - the ultimate aural fist fuck. The studio wizardry of Scott Hull should not go unnoticed, because his talents saturate this endurance test like a sickening, fevered, pain-induced sweat. I really don't think anyone can top this effort, it is just that amazing. I cannot get over the devastating nature of the drum machines...You must hear this album.
Glass Eye
So what do you want me to tell you? Nearly 40 songs in 33 minutes. Drum machine, this time programmed a lot better. Lotsa vocalists, samples, and between-song fuckery. A few places where it sounds like someone got the itch to write, yuh know, parts and stuff, but mostly it's just a barrage, a shitstorm of grind and more grind, with those fun little connect-the-dots bits of ear candy (hey, a Nuclear Assault cover!) to serve as reference points for us lightweights who can't memorize the subtle nuances of the whole thing. Interesting in an academic way, but man, who needs the stress? Keith Bergman / 2.5 Eyes
Hellride
If I ever decided to do a whole fuckload of PCP, slit my arms open with broken beer bottle glass, steal a truck, and go mow old people down while driving 90mph thru town I would listen to this disc while doing it. These guys are fucked up. I'm not sure what to make of the whole disc, it was kind of hard to comprehend the first time thru, and the second time thru it just fuckin' weirded me out. These guys glorify drugs, spout the oh-so-un-PC "fag" and "homo" words like it's going out of style, and just blast and goddamn blast some more.
After the third listen I sat down and read thru the lyrics sheet. Now, I'm really fuckin' scared. Forget that Bin Laden pussy and Saddam, live in fear of these motherfuckers. Take this little lyrical tidbit from "Kill Theme for American Apeshit"...
"Same pliers used in a
nosejob on another whore,
Fuck it! I'm fucked up let's do this shit.
Everyone in here is dead- for no good reason- right fucking
now."
These guys grind with the best of
'em. Can't say anything better about them than that. They use a
drum machine but it doesn't sound as shitty and fake as a lot of
other bands that use 'em. I am fuckin' sold on
these guys after a few listens. There's way too much shit going
on on this disc to accurately explain in the little time I've
got. Just check 'em out and form your own opinion. Not for the
pussy little mall metal crowd but definitely for the more
underground inclined Hellride readers. Especially you guys who
listen to Anal Cunt, Total Fucking Destruction, etc.
I shall define Agoraphobic Nosebleed as Industrial Grind. It's 90% blindingly fast grind most of the time. The drums are programmed and there is lots of sampling. I don't listen to very much grind due to the monotony, but this sucker is right on. Some bands can write songs, and some bands can write albums. A.N. is capable of doing both. What I mean by "write albums" is that some bands are good at ordering the tracks so you never lose interest, and this album is a perfect example. Just when I've had about enough blast beats, the next song changes the tempo, but beyond that the album is just ordered and mixed in a way where the fun never stops. It flows. And it does so in a way that sounds like one long piece of music with 38 parts as opposed to 38 back to back grind songs, which for me normally gets old around track four. My point is this: I can actually sit and listen to this whole album from beginning to end with out getting bored. A.N. manages to throw in enough variety to prevent me from yawning and changing records.
Now to the lyrics. I think that the title of this album should have been, Inside the Mind of a Schizophrenic Drug Fiend Badly in Need of Anger Management, but the actual title is Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope, which works in its own right. The frenetic pacing of the songs, most of which are very short, provides a perfect platform for the raving screams and yells of these four men. While perfect for the music, the actual content is what bothers me. Now I don't want to sound like the second coming of the PMRC here, but quite a few of these songs involve abuse towards women and hatred towards homosexuals. I don't know if this is supposed to be done in some sort of "ironic" way, but if it is I'm not getting it. For instance, from the song "Bitches Handbag Full of Money:" "You're real gay about pussy. / Your bitch has got you looking in a magazine for clothes. Homo. / All I'm buying a bitch is a bag of shit to choke on." There's another song about jerking off in one's hand and "belting" a girl across the face with it. In "Razorblades Under the Dashboard" there's a line that goes "Fucking dead queer. I hope you feel real fucking dumb," and I'd try to put it in context, but I'm still not really sure what the song is actually about. I could go on, but I try to stay around 300 words, and I'm well over as it is.
Now to point out my own
hypocrisies, I listen to bands like Cannibal Corpse, Burzum and
other bands with very sketchy morals/politics, but there's just
something in the wording here that really creeps me out. Also, I
guess that for as much as I might listen to bands with sketchy
morals/politics, I never take them very seriously. I am able to
suspend my disbelief. But somehow with Frozen Corpse Stuffed With
Dope, I was just unable to do that. I actually believe
these guys. Maybe I was just shocked because seeing as this band
has a split with Converge, I wasn't expecting these lyrics. But
then, hey, maybe that's what they were going for, to creep me
out. Whatever the case, this album is too good to not give 5
skulls just because I don't approve of some of the lyrics, even
if they are a bunch of hatemongers.
Reviewed by
Moloch (9/4/02) 5/5
Planet Loud
Some bands don't mince their words do they? Look at those song titles... Grandmother With Aids, Hungry Homeless Handjob, Unwashed Cock.. If they're not guaranteed to offend at least, oooh, about half the worlds population then I'm sure the bands stab at hyperactive, super-grind probably will. Agorophobic Nosebleed tread the same grind path as those loveable rogues in Anal Cunt but travel down it with a more polished sound. While the sound does follow the same ultra-fast style of Anal Cunt, the obvious time spent on getting a polished sound job means that the 90-second bursts of chaos are slightly easier to listen to than the Earache mob. It still doesn't mean that Agoraphobic Nosebleed will be appreciated by anyone other than fans of utter extremity as the likes of Shit Slit are hardly MTV fodder are they? Extreme grindcore fans will absolutely lap up the likes of Double Negative and Someone's Daughter while their choice of cover in Nuclear Assault classic Hang The Pope just suits the band's confrontational, nasty, unpleasant sound down to a tee. About as horrible as a record could get.. and that's a recommendation!
Unrestrained
With the opening
sound snippet of "Engineering A Pill Frenzy" stating
'Another drug turns harmless people into wild beasts,'
noise/grindcore outfit Agoraphobic Nosebleed is off like a bat
out of hell, a mammoth beast of sonic intensity that causes the
walls to crack and the ground to shake as if struck by a deadly
earthquake.
With 38 songs in 33+ minutes, Agoraphobic Nosebleed waste no time
in force-feedings us such memorable numbers as
"Repercussions In The Life Of An Opportunistic, Pseudo
Intellectual Jackass," "Machine Gun," "Manual
Trauma," "Shit Slit," "Hungry Homeless
Handjob," "Built To Grind" and "Cryogenic
Husk" with a very hateful and punishing attitude. This isn't
a Rhapsody record where everything sounds so 'Hollywood' and
pretty. Agoraphobic Nosebleed just grabs us by legs and drags us
through the fucking filth of society, laughing menacingly as we
cry to be freed. And be sure to check out the
electronic/techo-influenced final cut "FUCKMAKER," as
it throws things for a loop.
No record so far this year has punished the listener's ears as
viciously as Agoraphobic Nosebleed has with "Frozen
Corpse" and I highly doubt any other album will come as
close to the madness that the band has assembled here. Sick,
twisted stuff delivered with a Cheshire cat's smile as blood
casually spews out the side of its mouth. A brutal
masterpiece!
Adrian Bromley 9.5
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