The different putrid permutations that death metal has taken over the years are perhaps not quite as drastic as those of black metal, but the fact is that it’s all about knuckle-dragging, dum-dum caveman death metal at the moment.

Whereas black metal has often been overintellectualized over the years and, as a whole, is arguably the closest that extreme metal has gotten to “high art”, death metal has seemingly regressed into lobotomized blunt force. It’s sort of crazy to me to think that death dynamos of decimating technicality Necrophagist and Obscura were two of the biggest names in death metal some 20 years ago. While technical death metal certainly still exists, albeit seemingly often in the form of deathcore, the circular chainsaw of death metal trends seems to be squarely pointed at big dummy dum-dum death metal. Quite a few of the leading bands, such as Sanguisugabogg and 200 Stab Wounds, also inject quite a bit of hardcore influence into their dummy death metal. One wouldn’t be tossed into a pit of zombies for thinking that the new iteration of death metal is just deathcore by a slightly different name. It’s just that deathcore as we know it today generally seems to have a more polished sound and a little bit more “core” than “death”.

Arguably, one of the most influential bands for this current cycle of death metal seems to be the legendary Mortician. When powerviolence (self-proclaimed “false grind”) band Ground surprised me by covering Mortician all the way back in 2016, I knew that something was up. Despite the insane tempos that Mortician has been known to play at, they typically keep their style pretty simple and straightforward to great effect. So what better band to headline a combined pig roast and mini-death metal festival in this year of our death metal 2023?

This was actually the second iteration of Mortician‘s Hacked Up for Barbecue death metal festival and pig roast, hosted by No Class in Cleveland. The other bands consisted of Putrid Liquid, Scab Hag, Bonginator, Lt. Dan, Deterioration, Genocide Pact, and Putrid Stu. Yes, you read that right – not one but two bands with “putrid” in their name. This is what I mean when I talk about putrid permutations of death metal.

Putrid Liquid was both the first “putrid” band and the first band in general to play and they, uh…sort of set a weird precedent. Rather than a banner with their band’s logo, they had a large banner of some PG-13 hentai of what appeared to be two young women lying on a book-strewn bed together with the hand of one between the other’s legs. I am (in some ways, thankfully) not too familiar with what’s happening in goregrind or pornogrind these days, nor have I ever been, but this made me think that I’m all the better for it. If anyone is curious, I called the cringe department to file a claim.

Scab Hag came out of the gate like a raging bull and set a challenging precedent for all subsequent bands: be as heavy or heavier than Scab Hag or die trying. While the ginger mullet of the vocalist shone brighter than ever beneath the green-hued lights, the Ohio band’s pummeled the audience into submission with caveman, knuckle-dragging, palm-muted death metal riffs. Scab Hag is slated to release a new EP, Wading through Mephitic Filth on Halloween.

Bonginator was another highlight. For those of you who have been too stoned while living under a rock, Bonginator is a young death metal band whose primary (only) lyrical concept is that of WEED. The band started off as a solo project of the very Viking-looking (with the name to boot) Erik Thorstenn. With a concept album swirling around aliens and weed that includes songs like “420 lb. Poop”, it’s clear that Bonginator is a band that, at the very least, takes their brand of death metal with a bit of an ironic smirk. Nonetheless, their show was chalkful of energy and, in spite of a hilarious wall-of-death failure, they got the crowd moving.

Bonginator was the only band of the night that called for the crowd to do a two-step, and the guitarist and bassist always two-stepped when vocalist/guitarist Erik called for it. However, they were not the only band whose music I saw people two-stepping to. For those of you who don’t know, a two-step is a hardcore dance, but this is the first time I ever recall seeing at an exclusively metal show. Here is a quick and easy tutorial for those of you who would like to engage in a two-step at your next death metal show:

As I hinted at earlier, I find it interesting how the intersection of hardcore and metal (especially death metal, it seems) morphs over time. While the first wave of deathcore was heavy on breakdowns and clean, crisp production, this current wave of death metal seems to revel in both breakdowns and two-step parts as well as a looser, sometimes sloppy, production. It’s ultimately another specific example of the crossover appeal between punk and metal that has now spanned over 40 years.

It’s very hard for me to believe, but Mortician was headlining a show in which this relationship was subtlely on display. But once Mortician took the stage, there was still no Will Rahmer in sight. Instead of Rahmer, there were two: one bassist and one vocalist. Approximately one-third of the way through the set, the vocalist announced that Rahmer’s flight had been canceled, so he (Devin Swank) and Cody (Davidson), both of Sanguisugabogg, were filling in for him. Wulf half-jokingly labeled this a “death metal conspiracy” because Swank and Davidson sounded very practiced with guitarist Roger Beaujard and live drummer Sam Inzerra. But, according to a later Facebook post by Sanguisugabogg, Rahmer’s flight was only canceled at 8 pm and Mortician went on around 11 pm. So, either Swank and Davidson, who apparently were already in Cleveland, are very fast learners, or they somehow were considerably familiar with a bevy of career-spanning Mortician songs. Or, is there a secret third explanation…? Maybe we will never know the TRUTH.

Just as a side note, on our connecting flight to Cleveland via Dallas, Wulf and I noticed someone who looked quite familiar to both of us sitting in the airport. His style was very much like Misfits-era Danzig but he was probably between 5 and 7 feet taller than Danzig. Once we had boarded the plane and sat down in our seats, we saw him coming down the aisle.

Wulf was sitting in front of me and, through the space between the seats, I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was because he was looking at photos of who we suspected this person to be. I leaned over, “Is that him?” Wulf said, “You think so too, right?”

After we were seated he walked by and Wulf held up his phone to him and said, “Is this you?”

He laughed and said, “Yea!”

It was Damian Master from A Pregnant Light. While Wulf is more familiar with his excellent defunct podcast BSOGM (Bullshit Old Guy Metal), I’m a huge fan of My Game Doesn’t Have a Name and Broken Play.

While our conversation was brief, he was clearly a very sweet man and we are here for it.