Regorging old habits while committing newborn atrocities Turin, Italy-based brutal death metal quintet Putridity return with their first new material in nearly a decade with a few new folks geared in and their classic post-millennium attack still in order. ‘Greedy Gory Gluttony‘ highlights all of the qualities of a certain golden era, a point of higher standards for the brutal death artform while also serving a not-so gentle reminder that these folks still represent an outrageous extreme. Setting past, present and future into one hollow-tipped salvo they’ve left me with an ugly exit wound and little to blather on about while I bleed out. If you’re not familiar with ’em, here is a chance to get a potent slice of one of Italy’s finer cults of brutality.

Putridity formed as a solo project from guitarist Putrid Ciccio (Daemusinem) back in 2005 before a couple of demos hit and an expanded trio formed, a proper disturbed brutal death metal band who managed to generate some fantastic hype for themselves playing as fast and brutal even for the time. Most folks will recall the original era of the band (2005-2015) with that core trio for the quickly developing style of drummer Davide Billia who would later leave the band to pursue thronework for Hour of Penance, Beheaded and Antropofagus. This’d been one of a few big deal Italian brutal death bands to stand out, establishing themselves with the band’s first couple of albums as an act with an ungainly Disgorge-level of extreme brutality and speed applied. Putridity had arrived with a blunt instrument of speed and nuanced riffcraft in an era where tech-death, deathcore, and slam were already edging out the 90’s-borne death metal mentality from the craft. Their own evolution of that sound and style still shines through here despite the band being restaffed entirely beyond maestro Ciccio beyond 2018-2019.

With about ~13 minutes of music to cover on this 7″ there won’t be all that much to remark on, Putridity have upheld their signature extremity though the change in drummer and vocalist will be obvious for folks who pay closer-than-usual attention to the details, // different humans different results. To start they’ve sandwiched re-recordings of two classic songs from their first two LPs in between two new originals which indicate their approach for this next chapter. The new pieces are the main attraction here as a listener already familiar with their gig, which they’ve suggested indicate the direction the band’ve taken for their upcoming full-length album ‘Morbid Ataraxia‘. The fact that “Adipocere Retribution” and “Molten Mirrors of the Subjugated” are set right next to two of the band’s most representative, over the top songs from their first two albums without presenting any wild stylistic shift or strange juxtaposition of attack seems to be a point of purpose as Ciccio kinda looks back upon past kills while also looking forward to an equally violent future.

“Sodomize Epileptic Chunks” is a re-recording as part of this retrospective thought, a song from the band’s second album and Willowtip debut ‘Degenerating Anthropophagical Euphoria‘ (2011) which’d been their most moshable, Enmity-level extremism on record overall and one where the band were unquestionably flexing the skills they’d developed in the interim between records. If we jump over to “Molten Mirrors of the Subjugated” we find a far more sophisticated level of composition by direct comparison and I could echo this thought to some degree when taking a closer look at their re-recording of “Fermented Entrails” one of the more characteristically short, savage and wrathful pieces from the band dating back to their first demo CD-r. This is the fourth version of the song to date, the version to best compare with is probably the one from ‘Mental Prolapse Induced Necrophilism‘ (2007) and this version might be the fastest, hardest hit if we don’t account for the programmed drums used on the first demo; The inclusion of “Ecstasy in Decay” is fittingly molded to the shape of this band’s attack, a cover from Cannibal Corpse‘s underrated late 90’s output beyond ‘Vile‘, the inclusion of this song doesn’t come as a too much of a surprise since only a real one would recognize the throttle of ‘Bloodthirst‘ when given so many options to yank from that pool. Making a song like that feel like their own isn’t an easy feat.

Stay grotesque. — If you’ll recall how stoked folks were when Putridity returned with their third album back in 2015 there is little indication here that their return with a fourth LP will be any less of an event based on what ‘Greedy Gory Gluttony‘ prescribes. At least, I’ve gotten the impression they’re going harder than ever, regaining a second wind with this new crew while keeping the songs tightly sewn and wasting no time with gimmickry. Otherwise, taken as a 7″ release: The cover art smokes, sound is primal yet clear, performances are insane, the signature is upheld, and the cover song is choice. A high recommendation.

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