After a number of appetite whetting, shorter releases, Florida's Plasmodulated blast forth their debut full length, An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell. Hitting digital, CD, vinyl, and cassette with the help of Personal Records, Gurgling Gore, and Dawnbreed, this forty minute chunk of metal mayhem captures the band's hard work after getting their recording lineup squared away. The year spent writing and recording were well used, and Ocean is a ripping death metal romp inspired by the guitar tunings of old. Using standard tuning, Plasmodulated pay homage to their influences while separating themselves from the pack, where down tuning has become the norm. Although the band aims for a "yucky" sound, Plasmodulated feels more traditionally rooted with nice jaunts into modern arrangements keeping the album fresh and invigorating, but never really descending into the vileness that the lyrics and titles would let on.
Channelling the swampy goodness of death metal's birth, this Floridian crew take the old school sound and blast it into the twenty-first century. Fast and furious, the nine tracks on Ocean move quickly and with a purpose, bringing fist-pumping death to the masses with a side of slimy sickness. Eschewing the traditional vile approaches (down tuning, overly guttural vocals, autopsy art, typical goregrind-like trappings), Plasmodulated uses their standard tuning to add a sense of unease and as a gateway to different, unsettling riffs. Not over the top, the tracks on Ocean are given ample opportunity to worm their way into the ears of the listener to wriggle and creep their way under their skin. Not a main course of vileness, but rather a sickening sauce, the tones on display help Plasmodulated stick out from the crowd while playing great death metal that would resonate with any fan. With shifting tempos, Plasmodulated open up new worlds with each track and let their yuck lean into the otherworldly instead of gurgling and pustulent. This becomes extremely evident in the two part "Entering the Gastral Realm," which is about infection by an extraterrestrial parasite and the resulting murderous rage. Owing a bit to the recently lauded Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation, Ocean lets the theme and feeling drive the work, but backs it up with skilled instrumentation, excellent arrangement, and crisp production. While the gloriously goopy cover art could have housed an album one hundred eighty degrees different, Plasmodulated made the right choice to go with a yucky essence instead of a putrid paste.
Nine tracks of deftly played death, Plasmodulated's An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell is a fantastic debut album from this quartet, and a great look at what's to come. Avoiding genre trappings and self-indulgence, Ocean hits hard on its first spin and begs for repeated listens. Definitely one that improves on successive playthroughs, Plasmodulated's debut full-length is a treat for death metal fans in this world and any that are picking up our signals.
