Listen: Nunslaughter “Crosses” Us Up

I feel like it’s easy to pass right over a gross-out scum metal band. There’s something obtrusively unserious about those pseudo-shocking acts like Macabre or Mentors, something that equates them more to an uncle’s turd jokes at a barbecue than to a tastefully evil tale of gore. Aren’t guys in such bands merely button-pushers, all screeching about barfing on corpses in hundreds of short songs, courting cheap offense with every lyric and t-shirt design? Is there a jam in there or what?

For Nunslaughter, the answer is yes! Even among their label mates Shitfucker and Profanatica on Hells Headbangers records, the trio leaves you guessing their level of self-awareness; they sound serious, but is that even possible for a band whose name swears death to tragically religious women? Or are they knuckleheads, as is implied again by their name and its resemblance to the phrase “Nuns laughter.” In other words, do fans clap them on the back and compliment them with a smile? Or do fans nod solemnly across the merch table at these tortured misanthropes? Simply, GG Allin or Watain? Tough one! Crank ’em up below (via Noisey, HH bandcamp).

Nunslaughter’s new double album Angelic Dread is out Tuesday via Hells Headbangers. Pre-order here and here.