Reviews
Dying Fetus: Grotesque impalement
10/06/10 || InquisitorGeneralis
The “Grotesque Impalement” EP and the masterpiece “Destroy the Opposition”, both released in 2000 are the last two releases to feature the ultimate Fetus triple combo of John Gallagher, Kevin Talley, and Jason Netherton. While “Destroy…” is now a recognized grind/gore/death metal classic, “Grotesque Impalement” has somewhat faded into the shadows. It is a short EP featuring two original tracks, two covers, and two humorous joke sketches/songs at the end. While it may not sound like the most impressive track list, if you give a shit about this band you should give this little nugget some love. I will give each track on here a little time in the sun, as well as a rating on the old IMPALE’O‘METER.
Grotesque Impalement: Domination, Penis, Touchdown. This is the main reason to own this EP: a classic Fetus track full of extreme drumming, garbage-disposal vocals, and big-time breakdowns. You will not find this killer track on any other Fetus records. This gets an impalement score of a Full Spike In Through the Anus and out Through Mouth Vlad Dracul Style. That’s about as good as it gets folks.
Streaks of Blood (Baphomet Cover): A solid cover of a song I’ve never heard by a band I’ve never heard of that sounds like a normal Fetus track. Nothing new here, but the multiple breakdowns and slower song pace make the song enjoyable. “Streaks of blood” gets an impalement score of Ran Through With a Viking Broadsword. That’s painful, but it could certainly be worse.
Bringing Back the Glory (Next Step Up Cover): Next Step Up sounds like a bad 90’s boy band, but in fact they were bad 90’s hardcore band from Baltimore. Well, they were not really bad but I certainly have never been a fan of their standard tough-guy respectcore style. Anywho, Dying Fetus does an entertaining cover of “Bringing back the glory” and give a respectful slamdance shout-out to their hardcore roots and influences. It is always good to see Baltimore-on-Baltimore love, seeing as we here in Mob Town are much better at pumping each other full of lead. This decent cover of a local hardcore anthem gets impalement score of A Doc Martin Shoved Up Yer Mouth and Through the Back of the Head because I fucken say so.
Tearing Inside the Womb: Another standard Fetus track, nothing original or new here but more grind/hardcore flavored death metal done right by the band that pretty much invented and perfected the style. This one gets a solid Tree Branch Through the Gut After Getting Thrown From a Four-Wheeler score of impalement.
Final Scream (Prelude to Evil: Davey’s Nightmare) and Hail Mighty North / Forest Trolls of Satan (Anno Clitoris 666 Opus II): These final two tracks are the comic relief section of the EP. “Final scream” is moderately funny skit about a kid arguing with his parents…I usually skip it though. “Hail…” though is a hilarious satire of goofy black metal that sounds like a glam/hair song from the 80’s. It is always good to see some humor in metal from time to time… Hateplow anyone? These two comedic tracks get a Piece of Broken Desk Through the Nuts because that shit happened to this dude I went to high school with. He was sitting on top of the desk, it broke, and his fucken ballsack got impaled. Not funny at the time, but extremely funny now. Thankfully, for his sake, no gonads were pierced and permanent damage was avoided.
In summary this is a solid EP and if you are a Fetus fan you should have it, the title track alone makes it worth the cost. Oh, and “Grotesque Impalement” has a cool cover and is the last one to feature the old-school Dying Fetus logo. After this, the Fetus has pretty much abandoned the gore in favor of more social and political themes.
Hail the Fetus, fuck the haters.

- Information
- Released: 2000
- Label: Blunt Force Records
- Website: www.dyingfetus.com
- Band
- John Gallagher: guitar, vocals
- Brian Latta: guitar
- Jason Netherton: bass, vocals
- Kevin Talley: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Grotesque Impalement
- 02. Streaks of Blood (Baphomet cover)
- 03. Bringing Back the Glory (Next Step Up cover)
- 04. Tearing Inside the Womb
- 05. Final Scream (Prelude to Evil: Davey’s Nightmare)
- 06. Hail Mighty North / Forest Trolls of Satan (Anno Clitoris 666 Opus II)
