Like many people, prior to their appearance on Requiems Of Revulsion : A Tribute To Carcass, I’d never heard of Man Francisco’s Vulgar Pigeons, however after listening to their rendition of "Corporeal Jigsore Quandary", I was eager to find out more. What I found was their first album, which is actually a compilation of two 7" discs, an unreleased track and five live tracks. I also found out that the band consists of current Benümb drummer John Gotelli and ex-Benümb bassist Paul Ponitkoff, some guys named Jeff on guitars and Spencer on vocals.

After listening to the album as a whole dozens of times, it’s quickly apparent that Vulgar Pigeons don’t fit snugly into any one sub-genre of metal, although the closest description would be noise-grind with heavy death metal influence. Songs range in length from 4 seconds to 3 minutes with the full album clocking in at 23:17, however, as many people will tell you, it’s not the length of the songs, it’s the quality of the songs that matters, and in the case of Vulgar Pigeons, they’re able to come up with some really catchy and impressive music in a very short span of time.

The first five tracks consist of material from the band’s Genetic Predisposition 7", also released on Howling Bull Records. The music consists of pummelling blasts, catchy riffs and utterly chaotic screeched vocals with a thick roar ever-present in the background. Unlike many bands today, each song does not sound like a carbon copy of the previous track, each song is unique in structure and substance. "Pukeweed" is pure blazingly fast grind, whereas "Adventures Of Doom Rogers" is a slower paced track, which is far more emotive and varied and "UTI (Urinary Track Infection)" is a groove-chugger. All five tracks are powerful and worthy of many listens.

The next five tracks are from the band’s self-titled 7" recorded earlier in the year (1999). These six songs have a heavier sound and are more structured in a death/thrash metal/early grindcore vein, not quite as catchy as the newer material, but still with a thick pummelling sound that will punch you in the face and kick you in the groin while repeatedly screaming "SHUT UP LITTLE MAN!" This EP also features an early-Napalm Death-esque 4-second song. Like Genetic Predisposition, however, the last track, "Carney Lansford", ends up stealing the show as the best track with the most variation.

Following these tracks is an unreleased track, "De Atras Para A Delante", which is a pure grind track, and 5 live tracks from the band’s appearance on the Wednesday Night Live radio show on KZSU in September ‘99. They start off with "Citric Snot" from the self-titled EP, with a slightly different intro to the song, which is basically just the band getting warmed up before blasting away and taking off. Unfortunately, the first three live tracks the band is badly out of sync, however it is corrected on "T.F.S." and the end result is pure chaotic grind, the way it’s meant to sound ending the entire disc with a live version of one of the best songs from both EPs, "Nothing Left", from the self-titled effort.

Overall I found Vulgar Pigeons to be a breath of fresh air and they, along with Circle Of Dead Children and Pig Destroyer have renewed my interest in the underground grinding-death scene. The thing that separates Vulgar Pigeons from the rest is their sense of humour. For whatever reason most grind-death bands are all vegans who do nothing but preach about politics they don’t really understand about subject matters that no one can be bothered to read about. Of course Paul is vegan, but Jeff is too big a boy to live on brussel sprouts and tofu, and John… well… John thinks Paul’s veganism is sad, yet funny… then again I think John is gay, it would certainly explain why his hand is constantly running up my thigh and caressing the crease in the bulge of my pants, but that’s why I love these guys.

Unfortunately, prior to the recording of their Deathvomit debut, Spencer left the band or was kicked out, however you want to look at it, the end result is he’s no longer in the band, which was honestly a disappointment to me, because his chaotic, old school approach is part of what originally got me interested in the band. Regardless, the material the band recorded while he was a member is excellent, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed their cover on the Carcass tribute, or just want to hear what Benümb members do for fun outside of the confines of Benümb… apart from buttsex. This is by far one of the best purchases I’ve made this year.

Written By: Teufel