Where they from?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Have you heard of this place? My family moved to the Philly suburbs all the way back in 2000 but it never really felt like it was home until this past few months when I moved back in with them for the quarantine. It’s always kind of weirded me out whenever people are especially proud of where they are from, being that most American cities follow the exact same blueprint (hipster part, downtown financial district, chain restaurants, strip clubs, gentrification, etc.) but I’ve finally accepted that Philly is my hometown more so than anywhere else I’ve lived. That being said, cheesesteaks taste the same everywhere and I personally hate all the sports fans here.
Why the hype?
Grindcore, you heard of it? I have a somewhat stricter definition of what constitutes grindcore than most, as I adhere to the Jon Chang school of thought that it should be ‘majority blast beats and songs under a minute.’ But I understand some people take the “Carcass” approach where, yes, short blast beat songs constitute grindcore, but so perform more groove-oriented fare, so long as it has barfy vocals and medical terminology for song titles.
Enter Philadelphia’s Cephalothoracopagus, who essentially play the role of being every Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious fanatic’s wet dream! Not saying there aren’t any blasts to be had here, but this is a band that is all about the slimy groove and steady tempo which means they share more musical DNA with those eastern European porno grind ‘n’ roll bands than they do your average Assück worshippers. But to quote that episode of Seinfeld, “That’s not a bad thing!”
Latest release?
Disymmetros via Savage Mutilations tapes. It’s kind of funny has this band essentially came out of nowhere last week to dominate the grindcore scene (by “dominate the grindcore scene” I mean two of my Facebook friends shared it), especially since they are from my equally revered and reviled hometown. It really is refreshing to hear an EP of grind in which every song feels really coherent and cohesive, with peaks and valleys and of course that killer two-step in “Optometric Mutilation.” Also, let’s not let some very tasteful use of a drum machine go by without being recognized. This is an exceptional debut for a band I hope will be around for many more years to come.
