Motivation and modus for signature serial killers have always been a tricky balancing act for writers with a knack for the thriller, particularly when it comes to shock value conscious screenplays where the violence must be sensational and the killer must be demonstrably thrilling (er, in this case outlandish) to the point that the viewer only glimpses or even considers said motivation long enough to accept that the world is a senseless, brutal place as the killer and victim(s) alike fade off into the din of society at large at the end of the day. For their fourth full-length album Caserta, Italy-based death metal quintet FULCI have their own senselessly brutal motives in mind as they present this fourth full-length album, the latest in thier series of tributes to the godfather of gore, the poet of the macabre. On ‘Duck Face Killings‘ they tribute an infamously bloody and sexually charged giallo/thriller with concern for amplifying the already puke worthy über-violence depicted in the film, naturally leading us down a spiral of demented murders, heinous acts and tragic outcomes via brutal death metal and horror film soundtrack/score inspired dread.

Fulci formed as a trio circa 2013 between folks who’d played in smaller gore-themed brutal death bands together and separately in the early 2000’s. I’m not sure they had any real directive to start beyond playing ‘old school’ brutal death metal inspired by mid-90’s Cannibal Corpse, Mortician and the like while paying tribute to the films of Lucio Fulci via the lyrics and surreal, sometimes throwback 70’s/80’s horror soundtrack work thrown in on occasion. Their debut full-length album (‘Opening the Hell Gates‘, 2015) wasn’t quite as fully fleshed in its showmanship as it would be later but its lyrics were based on City of the Living Dead (1981) and their work centered around somewhat tuneful, very straight forward death metal. Songs like “Zombi Slam Squad” and “Among the Walking Dead” weren’t necessarily catchy but they were entertaining in the way that an S.O.D. record had its fun… but from the ‘Tomb of the Mutilated‘ perspective. I suppose they’d spend the next four years in silence building up to the next big thing, because it was most definitely their breakthrough pump in terms of ‘underground’ visibility.

An early standout release from the (then) still nascent Time to Kill line-up ‘Tropical Sun‘ (2019) would be the band’s tribute to Zombi 2 (1979) and despite their still employing programmed drums there was some kind of magick in the way they’d fused the moodiness of the soundtrack with their blunted, now more moshable mid-paced brutal death metal sound. I was a fan right off the bat terms of their cinematic treatment, a few choice instrumentals + a cover, and the riffs were mostly there but it was of course style over substance. To achieve the right effect it was more about presentation than cutting their own course musically. It was short enough to entertain without being a huge ask, the imagery was in strong tribute, and I’d say overall their most memorable act… a “new” first impression for most at a time where they’d kinda fit next to the popularity of stuff like Fluids and where certain Maggot Stomp associated stuff was taking it with the chugs sans the hardcore hops.

With that momentum having built well into several re-pressings the third album from the band (‘Exhumed Information‘, 2021) would then take inspiration from the odd choice of Voices From Beyond (1991) as one of the director’s least praised films of the era, there I suppose the signature of the band was confirmed in the sense that they were a 90’s gore-death metal party in the front and retro soundtrack work in the back, and I mean literally the first half of the album was pure death metal and the second half was simply soundtrack work. I dunno if chopping themselves in a half like that worked and I wasn’t necessarily up for another one. In the case of ‘Duck Face Killings‘ the band take on another choice cut from Fulci‘s filmography with direct reference to The New York Ripper (1982) a giallo film with some of the director/writer’s most brutal, or at least terrifyingly intimate, scenes of violence at that point which offers plenty of appropriately disturbing subject matter for a brutal death metal band. As a fan of pre-90’s thriller/slasher films in general this is one of the director’s more infamously disturbing films, at least in general collections, so I was familiar enough that it was hard to resist not taking a closer look at what Fulci were up to this time around, though I don’t know if I was expecting anything that’d leave a dent in mind at all.

‘Duck Face Killings‘ is a first in a few ways and a fourth in others. It is a first record via the exceptional curation of 20 Buck Spin and likewise their first recording propped up by a human drummer, in this case Edoardo Nicoloso, and a second guitarist Ando Ferraiuolo who engineered/produced Fulci‘s first two records and played on their live-in-studio recording ‘The Morrisound Tapes‘ (2023). Thankfully the folly that was the half-and-half split running order of ‘Exhumed Information‘ has been nixed and this album generally reprises the fluxion of forms found on ‘Tropical Sun‘ where Carpenter/Frizzi style electro-OST fare butts up against simply stated mosh-and-potatoes styled death metal. The interruptions are kept at a minimum otherwise and this is generally a pure death metal album with a couple of surprising choices made along the way, a reasonable fourth iteration upon their general modus.

Whereas ‘Exhumed Information‘ told a story in screenshots, conveying the plot of its associated film via objects/moments associated with key scenes, there are probably too many outrageous moments within The New York Ripper worthy of sensationalizing further. In this case we get fourteen songs and just over a half hour to ride through it all and, much like ‘Tropical Sun‘, the mood of the movie is conveyed via interludes (“A Blade in the Dark”, “Lo Squartatore”) and lyrics per a few clear odes to infamous scenes/moments. To start we get at least some of the charm of the films terrible dub via the opening clip used for “Vile Butchery” and a sense of just how raw the film’s best quotes can get (per the reference of “Fucked With a Broken Bottle”) as the first half of the album is most clearly invested in the discovery phase of the murder mystery, the slasher’s slashing, and the hypersexual focus of the film in its first two thirds (“Morbid Lust”).

The 1991-1994 run of Cannibal Corpse is still probably a reasonable (re: brutally generalized) comparison here as we step into Fulci‘s vision of death metal on “Vile Butchery” where there is nothing inherently violated within those parameters beyond more of a late 90’s groove metal built statement as they work the song through its second minute. There are implications of things to come therein but it really is just a matter of introducing themselves with a few big riffs and a snappy groove. The album doesn’t truly start to hit its main gear ’til “Fucked with a Broken Bottle” and “Morbid Lust” introduce what I’d read as a sort of Bolt Thrower inspired style of lead. Juiced up with a wah pedal and met with mid-paced dramatic riffcraft that will likewise reprise on the title track (“Duck Face Killings”) later on the call-and-return Jungle Rot-esque roll of “Morbid Lust” and its main groove probably represent the most in-the-pocket these folks have ever sounded in terms of ‘old school’ death metal in generalized form. The first five songs here are naturally the portion of the record I’d gravitated toward most, wherein most of the riffs hit and the initial spectacle of the album finds its flesh.

There’ve been more than a few times where death metal has bumped asses with hip-hop (see: “Bullituary (Remix)”) and the general rule is, don’t let the death metal vocalist rap and the half of the audience you lose in the moment will probably be replaced by just as many interested. In this case vocalist Domenico Diego acts as backup, showing up after the guest spot from Lord Goat (Goretex, Non Phixion) on “Knife” where he growls out an endtro melody more-or-less. It is a brief moment, an unexpected touch that kinda raises the bar in terms of what else the album might bring to break up the trod of pretty straight forward death metal. There are yet a few bites of guitar melody here, such as “Human Scalp Collection” which recalls the almost melodic death bounce felt in the first couple of songs on ‘Exhumed Information‘. This is where the spectacle generally ends and they pull back into the aforementioned mosh n’ potatoes death mulching (“Rotten Apple“, “Stabbed, Gutted, and Loved”) one’d expect from a band always referential of both New York and Floridian death metal of a certain era.

While I wouldn’t say the album ends with a bang it does feel like we’ve gotten a clear sense of Fulci‘s signature in the process and a better idea of what tightened-up standard to expect from them now that they are a live-capable touring band with a specific modus in mind for each recording. Does it fully reprise the impression made by their second album? I think that was certainly the standard aimed for and in some ways they’ve outdone that record by breaking up the soundtrack music so that it frames the death metal rather than follows it as if bonus tracks. They’ve not quite reached the point where the riffs and the 70’s/80’s horror film score meet close enough to fully merge but they still sound great sidled together here and there, particularly the combination of “A Blade in the Dark” and “Fucked With a Broken Bottle”. Considering the way bands like Dipygus have incorporated electro-vignettes and synth I do think that type of compositional merger could work for Fulci as well and I guess “Il Miele del Diavolo” (and their Frizzi cover on ‘Tropical Sun‘ for that matter) suggest they’ve had the thought. Main point being there are possibilities opened up in the peripheral vision of this album though it all comes back to chunky death metal grooves at the end of the day.

The suspected killer had eight fingers, not nine. The cover art (via the incredible Wes Benscoter) brings a next-level touch to the theme and imagery of this album with its brilliant use of blood as the skull + hands’ lower light source and some clear inspiration taken from the infamous movie billboard (illustrated version). Here it feels like they’ve lined up with the right artist to button up their aesthetic, the title font seems less serious eh, as Fulci‘s modus now chalks up to a science in terms of referential focus up front and the plunge of death metal’s knife second. I’d found the combination works well enough when the end result is reasonably brutal death metal with plenty of riffs and the occasional melodic lead or mid-paced break to liven the hammering up. It isn’t fully my gig, I dunno if I need more riffs or just more frequent leads to carry this type of approach somewhere beyond the pit. The way I see a band like Fulci is that they are there to entertain, and even if we discount the inspired aesthetic dressing their work presents there is just enough structural sense within the brutish actions of these songs that speak a direct and readable language that most listeners should be able to appreciate. Though I’m not sure it’ll call back to me beyond the review process for “that one riff” or any truly pronounced moments upon recall there is something to be said for ‘Duck Face Killings‘ putting on a show which is worthy of the fucked-up movie they’re tributing. A high recommendation.

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