Back in 2002 Razorback Records released the debut full length offering by Spanish goregrinders Gruesome Stuff Relish entitled Teenage Giallo Grind. The release was a gruesome slab of relentless early Carcass-inspired goregrind overflowing with thrashy riffs, a tri-vocal guttural assault, harsh, straightforward gore.

In 2003 Gruesome Stuff Relish teamed up with the UK’s Gorerotted and France’s Gronibard for the Split Your Guts Vol. 1 three-way split on Deepsend Records.

2008 sees Australia’s No Escape Records re-issuing Teenage Giallo Grind with the five tracks Gruesome Stuff Relish contributed to Split Your Guts Vol. 1.

Much like No Escape Records’ re-issuing of Gruesome Stuff Relish’s latest full length offering, Horror Rises From The Tomb, the re-issue of Teenage Giallo Grind remains essentially unchanged from the original. The same artwork, booklet and traycard are used and, other than the 5 bonus tracks, both releases are identical. The main difference between the re-issue of Horror Rises From The Tomb and Teenage Giallo Grind is that this release has been out of print for a while, whereas Horror Rises From The Tomb is still in print on Razorback Records.

Staff member Necro-tron wrote two thorough reviews of Teenage Giallo Grind and Split Your Guts Vol. 1 which dissect both releases far better than I could, so I’ll simply quote both of his reviews as they reflect my views perfectly. Sure, it may be lazy for me to just re-hash an old review, but, No Escape Records were too lazy to properly repackage this release, so it evens out.

Teenage Giallo Grind:
This is pure, unadulterated, grade A, tongue-in-cheek goregrind. If you like older, sloppier Carcass or a more slapstick, groovier take on fellow countrymen Machetazo, then Gruesome Stuff Relish is the band for you. You have the insidious triple vocals that range from grating exasperation to the sound of an eviscerated piggy. You have the unrelenting, thrashy riffs with less focus on technicality and more focus on getting from point A to point B with the harshest, fastest, and most straightforward grinding. And you have the catchy drumming in the background, with skinsman Paolo Deodato restraining himself from just going straight blast like most grind drummers do. The end result is a perfect mesh of addictive grinding chaos, gut-wrenching vocals, and bobbing rhythm that will make you go made with bloodlust, kill your neighbor’s dog, fuck his wife, kill his wife, and use puppetry to cause both two corpses to fuck each other. Fuck, you might even jump in there with them, screaming the lyrics to "Zombified Crowd"; though, that would require the most whacky jury-rigging to pull off, what with the strings and pelvic thrusts canceling out each other. If some sick fucker pulls it off, remember to include a Polaroid camera in your impromptu sex machine setup so you have proof with your bragging rights. God damn this record is awesome!

Split Your Guts Vol. 1:
Like clockwork- Gruesome Stuff Relish delivers. This material here is definitely stronger than their split with Splatterhouse and I’d say on par with their material on Teenage Giallo Grind. Imagine Carcass but replace Jeff Walker, Bill Steer, and Ken Owens with Return of the Living Dead-style zombified versions of themselves. It’s brutal, it’s sloppy, it’s catchy, and by George, it’s ready to motherfucking party. As to be expected from Gruesome Stuff Relish, their material on Split Your Guts Vol. 1 is pure, addictive goregrind heaven. While it definitely is formulaic, there is no denying Gruesome Stuff Relish’s ability to craft good Carcass-styled goregrind.

If you’re a fan of Reek Of Putrefaction and Symphonies Of Sickness-era Carcass then you’ll fucking love both Teenage Giallo Grind and the material they recorded on Split Your Guts Vol. 1. If you’re already a diehard Gruesome Stuff Relish fan and own the original release of Teenage Giallo Grind, then there’s no reason to buy this re-issue unless you don’t already have Split Your Guts Vol. 1 because it does contain an additional 12 minutes of killer Gruesome Stuff Relish material. This is a great goregrind album and I do highly recommend it but only if you don’t already own it. I’m actually pretty disappointed by No Escape Records lack of effort in repackaging both releases, seems pretty half-assed to me, but oh well. The music stands on it’s own and speaks for itself and that’s really all that matters.

Written By: Teufel