10th October 2024

Review: “Methcrush” by Bullhead

After numerous line up changes and a pair of demos in 2017’s “Black Goat Abortion” and 2020’s “Rehearslaughter“, a debut EP mixed and mastered by Josh Haddow at Zegaphon Studios in Spring 2024 has arrived from West Midlands Sludge Metal alchemists Bullhead. Soaked in themes of Suffering, Death, Horror and Dark humour, the project is now a two piece with Stuart Lewis (Xpelleir) handling bass and vocals and Josh Turner (Caligula) on drums, claiming a fusion of Sludge Metal and Crust Punk as their own… with Black Metal styled vocals. The duo self describe “Methcrush” as the most f***ed up thing you’ve heard this year…

When former prisoners of Guantanamo Bay talk about being sleep deprived as a form of torture, the music that they are forced to listen to is exactly what Bullhead create. This particular eclectic and perhaps even eccentric collection begins with “Alabama Dry Socket” which, in a style reminiscent of 1999’s “Osc-Dis” by Japanese band The Mad Capsule Markets, has a layer of distorted noise over the top of it. At first that makes it an uncomfortable listen but once you get past that there is a funky almost playful Punk Rock track underneath. Albeit with harshly barked Black Metal vocals and a savage burst of blast beats in the final third. Stripped down to the bare essentials, the sound is more Crust Punk that Sludge Metal but in truth it doesn’t really matter what you call it because its enough to make your ears bleed. Title track “Methcrush” finds the band joined for a vocal cameo by Dev Loines, which adds contrast to the banshee demon like throat gratings of Stuart Lewis. The spitting, snarling vocal venom is in truth the bands ugliest element, bringing to mind the work of Brenden Auld in Snorlax but if it were possible with even more deranged and unhinged lyrics. One shudders at the thought of what the two forces could create if they put their heads together.

“Finrot” continues the journey of nasties with a lyrical narrative about a rotting carcass begging to be put out of its misery. As ferocious as they come, this shotgun blast to the face hints at influences in Iron Monkey, the sonic equivalent of a nail bomb going off at close quarters. Like the best horror films, the devil is in the detail and over multiple listens nuances rise from the mix like termites that you just didn’t notice before. The duo’s intension was to create something original and f***ed up and they nailed that manifesto promise within the first 10 seconds. Slowing things down only to build up to ramming speed once more “83 Days of Sodom” is like a the act of trephination as Lewis attempts to escape through a hole in your skull, his brutal vocals at their devastating finest here. Without a guitar, the duo make the best use of the tools at hand, their rhythmic gymnastics leaving them with calloused hands as they beat the s*** out of their instruments. Once more with feeling? As the “Christbestos” is the lead pipe face re-arrangement that you didn’t know you needed. What did you just hear? No idea but it sounds provocative. An acid trip from start to finish, this avant-garde record is the kind of rage fuelled sonic oblivion that takes the essence of snot nosed punk rebellion and puts it in a bucket of Miracle Gro [7/10]

Track Listing