There are basically only a small handful of old school bands from the major "underground" metal labels that I’ve never familiarized myself with. Pungent Stench happens to be one of those bands. Having never heard any of their material, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but based upon some of their old album artwork, I suspected they were probably death/grind, and noting they reformed in 2001 I’d come to the conclusion that; had they ever been great, they probably suck now, which seems to be the pattern amongst reformed old school metal acts. After listening to their latest offering, Ampeauty, I stand by my pre-judgment. I don’t know if Pungent Stench were ever great, but after listening to this release I don’t care because this is a fat steaming pile of shit. Musically this effort sounds like a bizarre mix of Entombed-worship, mixed with Black Sabbath and thick NOLA-rockin’ flavor. The music is so technically devoid they make Six Feet Under sound like virtuosos, which, in itself isn’t such a bad thing, but when you take into account the music sounds so much like countless other groovy stoner/sludge releases I’ve heard over the years, I can’t even begin to feign interest in this. The vocals are among the most annoying I’ve ever heard, with an "enhanced" monotonous whining that makes me want to wrap the singer up in duct tape, toss him in a tub full of water and throw in any plugged appliances I can find. Lyrically I guess they’re supposed to be humorous, but when it’s the same joke you’ve heard 8000 times over the past 10 years, it loses its impact pretty quickly. This album may be satisfying to fans of the older material, I don’t really know, but all I can say is listening to this is like watching paint dry while undergoing Chinese water torture; it’s both boring and insanely annoying at the same time. If I want to listen to groovin’ rock, I’ll listen to old Sabbath, if I want to giggle at moronically funny lyrics, I’ll listen to Whore, if I want a thick metally groove, old school Entombed is where it’s at, if I want to listen to Ampeauty again, it’ll be in a landfill at the dump.

Written By: Teufel