Review: “Moral Obscenity” by Trench Foot

It’s been ten months and two space tinged tracks since multi instrumentalist mastermind Joe Bradley (vocals, guitars, bass and drum programming) troubled our ear drums and poisoned our minds with his brand of Death Metal with “Sacraficial Gore” from solo project Trench Foot. Utilizing the skills of Adam Rogers at Pitlab Leeds for mixing and mastering and joining the likes of Penny Coffin in releasing a cassette via Dry Cough Records his next offering is “Moral Obscenity“, three tracks of 80s horror film inspired material…

…from the outside at least Joe Bradley has been nothing short of prolific in the pursuit of his Death Metal vision and with each subsequent release the quality has improved significantly. “Moral Obscenity” isn’t the raw work that you’d usually find being tape traded, recorded on a potato in the centre of a rehearsal space as a band play live, warts and all. Instead, this sophomore record is slick and professional sounding with a real investment made in the future of the project. Bradley brings the riffs to the King’s table with “Septic Experiments“, seemingly inspired by the likes of Deicide, with more polish than his debut offered in ramaging fashion. The drums maybe programmed but they’ve been done tastefully so it is actually more difficult to tell and it would be perfectly possible for a drummer of flesh and bone to join the project to play these songs live should it be so desired. The murderously violent “Switchblade Slaughter” turns up the gore levels, Bradley’s vocals having improved to the point that a lyric sheet and a magnifying glass is no longer required in interpret his thoughts, the ghostly uneasy qualities of “Sacraficial Gore” left behind for this blood bath. Crawling out from under the wreckage following that Glasgow kiss, “Incinerated Alive” builds the atmosphere before tearing at the flesh once more with razor sharp edged riffs. As with the rest of the cuts this one as incendiary bursts of energy with slickly executed tempo changes, the difference being that Bradly has spent more time on the atmospherics to create something a little nastier and this sounds very much like the dawn of a new age… [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Septic Experiments
2. Switchblade Slaughter
3. Incinerated Alive

“Moral Obscenity” by Trench Foot is out now and available over at bandcamp