Blast(beat) from the Past: Hemdale

Hemdale
Rad Jackson
Relapse
2002
I love the art for the 2002 Hemdale compilation. Zombie films and LOLcats – two of my loves living together in happy harmony. Lucio Fulci would shed a maggoty tear if he were to erupt from his grave.
Excuse me while I hike my plaid pants up to my armpits and tell the kids to get the hell off my lawn, but the G&P motto might be “core before gore” because the pr0nz and misogyny of modern gore grind just lacks that movie geek sense of humor that infected the earliest splatter bands. (And really, if we’re honest, is there anything geekier than playing in a death metal band that pens ditties about evisceration and exhumation? Really?)
Ohio trio Hemdale, who shared splits with Exit-13 and Exhumed and whose Visceral Productions gave Nile their needed break, pulled a Herbert West on the festering remains of Carcass and Repulsion, reanimating not only their bodies but their cynical sarcastic humor as well. Try not to smile at songs like “It Burns and it Just Plain Smells Bad,” “Buried Under a Pile of Zombie Dung” or “Tribute to Anal Cunt Because We Think They’re Cool.”
You know the formula by heart because it’s been endlessly repeated over the last 20 years but rarely so well: Mike Lehmann’s grave digger guitar, an absolutely filthy bass tone from Matthew Rositano and Craig Rowe’s shoulder shocking blasts, add gurgle vox, a few bizarre samples and let fester.
You just know this is the kind of shit Cretin were jocking during band practices. Like the song goes, “Delicious Gory Fun.”