REVIEW: Grunk - Tales From The Stupidity Vortex

I remember seeing Grunk for the first time. If you haven't yet, you will, too. It was Worcester Music Festival last year, they'd turned the floor of Circle of Swords tattoo studio into a pit of pure chaos, silliness and brutality. Truly a force of nature. A year on, I caught them again at the same festival, though a different venue. It was equally reckless and lawless, but with the addition of bass player Mike, their fuller sound really made a difference on the ears. In the same way, if you compare 2020's Unnecessary Hate Boner to the recently-released Tales From The Stupidity Vortex, Grunk sound bigger and better, with Ramón also adding some guttural gurgles to complement Ollie's tortured shouting this time round. They sound much closer to the finished product these days.

Grunk - Hooligan's Haircut (live at Worcester Music Festival 2022)

Tales From The Stupidity Vortex kicks off with the brutal and lyrically self-explanatory Radiator Spunk, led by some great riffing and well-controlled blasts. Godolkin the Iconoblast has more cool riffs and a grindcore call-and-response between Ollie and Ramón on the vocals, before Iron Coffin essentially threatens to tear your eardrums off. The utterly ridiculous Fuck You Terry! follows, which is easily one of the most memorable tracks from their live performances, with a chorus that's catchy if nothing else. Place your bets on which Terry this could be about - Terry Crews? Terry Wogan? My grandpa, whose name was Terry? Maybe.

Grunk - Fuck You Terry (live at Worcester Music Festival 2023)


Strongtrembler 666, the longest song on the album, clocks in at a whopping three minutes and two seconds. From a dissonant guitar intro to Ollie's pretty direct, angry lyrics, it does stand out as a particularly vicious number in the middle of the album. CHOKEHOLDMURDERSPREE gets both vocalists working with each other well to create a cacophony of silliness before pit-starter Sir Kennington Brown virtually annihilates the listener. Look At The Flowers then deceives with its title, descending into brutal absurdity as it runs on.

urgleburgle whizzes by at breakneck speed before Grunk lull you into a false sense of security for the intro soundbite to The Life And Times Of Luchasaurus, rudely ripping you out of tranquility to, yep, more silliness and hyperspeed rhythms. By the time Double Singularity comes around, you're ready for a sit-down and cup of tea. Amphetamine SulpHATE (get it?) comes back around for one last aural assault, with Michael's wonderfully ugly guitar tone ringing out at the start to make way for what seems to be Ollie screaming either in pain or for help - perhaps drug withdrawal? - over most of the rest of the song.

Grunk - Strongtrembler 666 (live at Worcester Music Festival 2023)

It's hard not to have a daft grin on your face at the end of Grunk's quarter-hour of power. The album has an abundance of killer riffs, brutal blasts and throat-shredding roars. They sound bigger, more refined and more varied on Tales From The Stupidity Vortex than ever before. But they've not lost an ounce of fun or silliness. The vocal interplay is particularly great and there's some nice compositional details to make the listener laugh.

This album was so heavy, I've had to go for facial reconstruction. Love it.

Grunk: Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

MN

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