About 5 different releases comprise For Dead God from Polish gore masters Squash Bowels. The long and varied career of Bialystock’s Squash Bowels is represented with tracks as old as ‘94 and as recent as promo material from 2002. No original members are currently in the band but the core entity of Squash Bowels remains intact. A thick and distorted bass drives raging grind treated with vocals that gurgle forth bile and hate, The strength of Squash Bowels has always been severely sick vocals over strong compositions.

Their sound is geared to batter the ears as very few breakdowns or tempo drops are present to allow relief. When they drop into a churning slower part it’s only to introduce the next blasting attack. The gore vibe has remained consistent through the years but the skill level increases with each release. Sometimes they make obvious jumps in playing ability and sometimes it’s the song-craft that matures. There is a bit of a style change from release to release that may alienate gore purists but I find the changes refreshing. The production on the early stuff will not be tolerable to non-gore fans but I think it fucking rules for what it is. Squash Bowels changed a lot on Tnyrbal from 2000 when band used a weird track arrangement, backward parts and odd counts to create and alien and unsettling listening experience. These tracks are among Squash Bowels most creative material but come off a bit more cerebral than visceral. The 2002 material from Mass Rotting features a throwback style with more conventional but no less fierce riffing. The most recent material from the Promo 2002 release is their best yet and shows that they are still on an upswing. Early Squash Bowels stuff has a weird crusty caustic sound that fits the vibe perfectly but this band is skilled enough to really shine when all instruments are clearly heard as on this newer material. The promo tracks from 2002 rank with Disgorge (mex) and Dead Infection for the most intense goregrind ever witnessed and make a great teaser for the spring 2004 release No Mercy. The current line-up features brothers Pierscien and drummer Radek who both play also in Neuropathia. Pierscien plays bass and sings in Neuropathia and does guitar and vox in Squash Bowels. The bass and vocal duties are handled by longest running member – Arthur. Radek also played drums for the now defunct Grossmember (R.I.P. Jerzy). Squash Bowels will make their first stateside appearance this spring and I’m fucking jacked to see what they can do live. This is a great slice of gore and I dig the way it’s presented to show you the development of a concept. Obscene has done a nice job with the layout including the original covers, tons of photos and a collage. If you are a fan of goregrind then you already have the original demos but the new tracks make it mandatory. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them still leading the pack in 10 years with a new core of Polish kids raised on gore.

Review byMr. Budd