MORBID ANGEL in their classic period had a signature tune called ‘Where The Slime Live’. Well, now we know where the slime lives…covered in FLUIDS!
This is one sick, disgusting display of uber-primitive death metal devolution, making overhyped stuff like SANGUISUGABOGG sound about as dangerous as ATREYU. This band is working the same general territory as MORTICIAN, which is not a type of death metal you encounter a lot these days. FLUIDS makes no secret of their love of Hacked Up For Barbecue vintage MORTICIAN. Not Dark Yet oozes with rotten slow and mid-paced riffs that are down-tuned and bass-heavy to the max. There are occasional blasts of goregrinding fury, but that’s not the main thrust. Vocals are also very much in the Will Rahmer subterranean growl neighborhood. I’m not sure if the drumming here is programmed, but it sure wouldn’t be a surprise if it was.
Where MORTICIAN dallied with horror movie samples, FLUIDS uses what sounds like true crime and mental illness clips to give their material an extra layer of muck. They also play around with a lot of creepy synth work. The buildup on first track ‘Genesis Spoiled’ is frankly interminable and way too long, but later examples are more effective. Tracks like ‘Dignity Swindled’ and ‘Honor Tainted’ are just total fucking battering rams, but by the end of the album, the tracks become longer, doomier and strangely hypnotic, none more so than the lengthy ‘Humanity Reviled’, which is utter doom-death that even features some sorrowful lead soloing. That’s the closest this monstrosity gets to melody.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a new MORTICIAN album, and most goregrind bores me rigid, but FLUIDS have really hit on something perversely powerful with Not Dark Yet.
Review By: Dr. Abner Mality
FLUIDS
Not Dark Yet
Hells Headbangers
3.5 / 6