Track Review: “Deez Nugget” by Apple Sauce

Describing themselves as a “Prog-Everything” band formed in 2016, Apple Sauce are a quintet who hail from Italy and have a lot to say. Their 2020 self titled debut album features a guest appearance from Ralph Salati of Destrage and has song titles as eclectic and eccentric as “Chocolate Chivalry” and “Miky Mouse Slaughterhouse“. Fortunately they’ve been signed to Famined Records (Harmed, Dreameater) which means they’ve been given free reign to do exactly as they wish, so in creating their first single since, it’s no surprise that they’ve worked with a wealth of co-conspirators as they explain: “In any case, we feel lucky to have two great featuring artists: brradpitt, a Roman trapper we met thanks to his hit “Larva”. His music also advocates eco-social themes like climate change and our responsibility for it. And Breethoven, which is a symphonic grindcore band that we discovered in a magazine and immediately fell in love with. Along with them, Manuel Skizo Lucchini (Disgustibus) was also featured. Moreover, we had plenty of other artists who participated in recording the orchestral parts of the piece. And this is where the project became international with Fabrizio Buzzi on double bass, Tommaso De Bortoli on piano, and Nicola Tomasi on cello. In addition, two Spanish friends whom Giacomo met on Erasmus in Madrid: Daniel Zaera and Javier Caruda. And finally, directly from Boston, USA we had Gioia Gedicks record the violin parts, while the viola is played by Dylan Fafard. Ralph Salati and Federico Ascari were also involved in the recording and the mix/master process. I mean, a respectable cast.”

The thing about Apple Sauce as a band is that they create music that to the untrained ear makes no sense and “Deez Nugget” is the perfect example of that. A frantic mash-up of styles that sees the quintet leap from the Progressive Metal of Destrage through a flaming hoop of Trap-Metal before doing a forward roll though Acid Jazz, breaking into a back-flip of Punk Goes Pop Metal and then rotating into a huge Deathcore breakdown with a Slam roar that sends casualties to the burns unit. In one song. It should sound like a train wreck but it’s held together with perfectly executed transitions and tempo shifts that are gentle enough that nothing judders or feels awkward and the end result of that is something that is hilariously good fun! It takes the work of the bands debut album up a notch in terms of sheer bedlam and for that we salute them. If you’ve listened to Destrage or Mr Bungle and thought that was testing your ability to remain outside the asylum, then this is one for the straight jacket wearing masses because it’s on a whole new level [8/10]