Fulci – Sun-Scorched Gore and Terror

When a band takes on the name of a famous director, especially one with such a devoted following, they damned-well better deliver the goods. Fulci is named after Lucio Fulci, notorious and venerated director of many Italian gore classics. He also was the genius creator of some very stylistic giallos and a brutal western, as well as several comedy films. But what Lucio is known most for are his gore films, and my, how they drip with chunks of rotten flesh. Formed in 2013, this brutal gang of three Italians truly do bring the gore, the horror, and the overwhelming doom that permeates so much of the Lucio Fulci cannon into their own, twisted form of Death Metal.

The album itself is short, around 34 minutes, and most of the songs clock in at around the two to three minute mark. Nothing is longer than four minutes. This gives an almost punk feel to the proceedings; the songs strike, they brutalize, they steamroll you, and then they’re gone almost as fast as they came. This is not to say the pacing is breakneck. They find a good middle ground, some of the songs grinding your face into the wood-chipper, others taking a chainsaw to your limbs. The music is heavy, deep and low, gruff, old-school Death Metal with no compromise or release. The only breathing space you get during this suffocating half hour comes from the film samples liberally sprinkled between some of the tracks. All from Lucio Fulci films, of course.

Stand out cuts for me include “Matul Tribal Cult,” a very short, doomy piece that utterly annihilates. This is the sound of a dying man having his face slowly dragged across concrete, leaving behind a blood-smeared trail. “Eye Full of Maggots” is a churning, grinding swirl of death and despair. The vocals are so damned guttural on this, the band slowing it down and then barreling forward with wild abandon. This song is a perfect template of what the entire album is doing, hammer-smashing a few faces in along the way. That drop down groove about a minute and a half in is just crushing. Album closer, “March of the Living Dead” is the “epic,” coming in at just under four minutes long. It is an instrumental (there are several on this album) and it is simply towering. Opening with a rumble, laced with anthemic, melodic guitars, it builds and builds. The dead march, the zombies are taking over the planet, and this is the soundtrack to their ascent. Mankind is doomed as the voodoo drums mix with feedback, bleaching out into a hot summer apocalypse.

These guys really do bring it. If you’re into old school Death, gore, and music that is generally filled with a sense of unease and doom, you’ve got a new band to listen to. This is heavy, this is unforgiving, this is Death Metal.

“The boat can leave now.”

Available now from Bandcamp or Amazon

Three Buckets of Blood out of Four

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Kelly is the author of dozens of stories and dozens of reviews, he likes to write, he likes to read, he likes going to the movies, and he loves to laugh.  He hails from the wilds of Kentucky and if you'd like to see more of his work, check out his website: www.kellymhudson.com

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