Fistula
Longing For Infection
(Patac Records)
Fistula exist to make audiences revile in discomfort, or for the sick fucks that love them, revel in disgusting imagery. These sludge masters have been slinging low-end nastiness for fifteen years. They have a plethora of splits and EPs. Longing for Infection marks their fifth full length. Gorging on death and violence, Fistula’s songs are graphic tales of drugs and murder. Fistula continues to delve into the macabre and sinister with these eight tracks of filthy sludge. In October, Fistula is touring Europe; anchored by Bloodshed Fest with Wormrot and Weekend Nachos and more.
The production here is stellar, crisp but thick. This is tenacious sludge metal stirring up guttural feelings in each audience member. Sadistic riffs rip loudly with twisting, churning guitars and ramming bass lines. Despite the prominence of the slow, sludgy beauty, Fistula can spurt and race forward, like for the first third of the opener, “Too Many Devils and Drugs”. And it rages. Dan Harrington’s throat scrapings drop on the down-tuned tracks. Brutal tracks like “Smoke Acid, Shoot Pills” and “Detox” are visceral renditions that carve up the listener.
They released a video, quickly banned by Youtube, for “Morgue Attendant”. The song begins with mid-tempo beat and a thick chords boasting a slight groove. The samples that open the track are news clips reporting on morgue workers that violated corpses. Fistula litter the reel with images of cadavers, ones that were eviscerated and spilling intestines and organs. Bodies splatter in a surreal way that quickly transforms them into objects.
After last year’s Vermin Prolificus, where Fistula had one minute tracks in between a nine minute and a thirteen minute adventure, here we have the band remaining a little more consistent, from three to eight minutes. That said, Fistula is reportedly releasing another full length this fall to follow this. Longing For Infection holds the six minute “Destitute” which pieces together trudging riffs and plodding drums to words of failure and misery. The wretched sounds are simmering and poised to strike.
Fistula makes dark, hideous music. It celebrates the boils of life and the vices that numb the self-hatred. The music parallels these feelings with nasty, bludgeoning riffs and rhythms. Audiences that want to unearth the corpse of good taste should tap a vein with this.
RIYL: Eyehategod, 16, Ilsa, Ulcer, Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza, Starkweather, SFA, Dare To Defy
Purchase Longing For Infection here.
