PULVERISED CRANIAL MATTER

The North West Coast of Tasmania is a beautiful place. Known for its dairy, seafood, distilleries and cellar doors. The coastline is rugged and wind swept, and the air is the cleanest in the world. The towns and their people are the salt of the earth, from Boat Harbour and Cradle Mountain to Burnie and Penguin. Some of those people have and still play in some of Tasmania’s best and most extreme metal bands. Psycroptic’s first vocalist Chalky is from Burnie, Three Victims is from the same area, who used to be Hemlok and then you have the legendary Intense Hammer Rage, with members from Burnie and Penguin.

Brad (Ricey) Rice who plays guitars and contributes vocals in Intense Hammer Rage began writing songs in 2012, for what would become Pulverised Cranial Matter. The general idea was to write songs that were less technical and allow the drums to breathe a little. He tagged in drummer James (Jim) Hooper who was also in Three Victims as well as the well known Launceston band, Nosce Teipsum. Pulverised Cranial Matter released Brutality Begets Brutality in April 2021, and it is 35 minutes of brutal death/slam metal.

With Ricey writing the material for Brutality Begets Brutality, it was going to be hard for him to sing and play guitar and bass if they wanted to play live, so in comes bassist Chris Studley, and vocalist Craig (Spills) Spilsbury to sing vocals. Spills was also the vocalist in Launceston band, Cranial Devourment, and had two stints in Intense Hammer Rage.

Watching Pulverised Cranial Matter is a lot of fun, and entertainment should be fun. Sure, there is a time and place for grim Black Metal, but having Pulverised Cranial Matter on your bill, with any lineup of bands means you are going to slam your head, and you are going to laugh. The guys have a great sense of humour, and it is hard not to grin at their aesthetic with the blood soaked T-shirts.

Using a steady stream of movie samples can be a risky move, but Pulverised use them as another instrument, mostly appearing at the beginning of songs. On Brutality Begets Brutality, they use quotes from the underground Australian classic, the 2003 zombie comedy slasher that is Undead. The humour is sarcastic, and it is Australian through and through, and it just works well on Brutality Begets Brutality.

The album is heavy, do not come into this for a sprinkling of melody or dynamic range. From the first seconds of “Gore Scene Clean up,” right through to “Pleading to Stop,” you are going to get pummelled. Naturally the themes are gory, but it is incredibly catchy. There is a slight industrial feel to the production, the guitars sound like they are bludgeoning a skull with a chunk of steel. Some of it even reminds me of early Pantera, particularly the tone on Far Beyond Driven.

The vocals here are brutal, but if there was ever an example where you can say they act as an instrument then this is it. The rhythm to the vocals is impressive, and you can barely hear what is being said, in fact they may not even be words, and the pig shrieks are really catchy and memorable. You can’t even call them pig shrieks really, they are like a pig squeezing a possum or devil out is arsehole in really fast contractions.

Slam has been linked with the nu-metal sound because of its slower chugging palm muted tempos, and I do hear some of that here. Vocally, some of the rhythms are not a million miles away from the underrated Static-X, and “Pleading to Stop” is a better version of Korn’s “Here to Stay” from Untouchables. None of these linkages are bad things, it just shows that one thing does not have to be one thing. Pulverised Cranial Matter do it all in a way that is brutal, tongue in cheek at times and all class.

The band are now writing and recording a follow up, and they are dong this as a four piece, and from all accounts, it is heavier and better. I heard a new track live recently, and it was a highlight during a set that was flawless, even Jim’s hard on was no match for Turbo Chook.

A brilliant band that is Tasmanian through and through. I can’t wait for the new album, so if you are unfamiliar, there is only one place to start, and that is with Brutality Begets Brutality, and then go see these guys live and buy some merch. They even have fridge magnets.