Review: Fulci Flip Expectations on Their Head While Kicking Serious Ass on Duck Face Killings

There has always been a very intimate relationship between horror movies and heavy metal. Though the former predates the latter by several decades, the two still go together like peanut butter and viscera. Both mediums are jarring by nature and designed to make a powerful statement by way of striking imagery, and fans of both often get a sinister kick out of watching the uninitiated squirm with discomfort upon exposure.

The works of Italian director Lucio Fulci are the stuff of legend for horror buffs, most notably his 1979 cult classic Zombi 2, which, though not the first movie to tackle the concept of reanimated corpses feasting on the flesh of the living, still sat comfortably atop the crest of the wave of movies throughout the ’70s which helped popularize it. He was right there alongside Romero in his prime, and the man certainly had a penchant for the unflinchingly gruesome, so it only makes sense that he would go on to garner a smaller but fiercely loyal following. However, I doubt even he could have foreseen a brutal-ass metal band embodying his namesake and propelling it as far as they have, or that that band would actually be really fucking good, too. I do like to think he would have approved, though.

The band Fulci first came onto my radar with the release of their 2019 album Tropical Sun, which in my not so humble opinion was a masterclass on how to properly blend slam and old school death metal. They somehow managed to capture all the best elements of both, and the end result was a nonstop freight train of groove bolstered by the added layer of shameless horror worship. Even the album art is oddly fascinating, with its bright yet subdued color palette making for a perfect visual representation of the auditory assault contained within.

Bands putting old horror movies on a pedestal and making them their entire personality is nothing new, but Fulci do it particularly, even exceptionally well. Of course, this ultimately has more to do with the quality of their music rather than any particular theme, but they certainly do their part to keep the spirit alive and relevant all the same. And just like any director worth their salt, they understand three things when it comes to their art: do what you love, don’t fear a little experimentation, and for God’s sake, don’t forget to have fun with it. Their three previous albums were all smash hits in their own right, but there is a noticeable change in the air on the band’s newest offering Duck Face Killings.

While the running theme of basing their albums on one of Signor Fulci’s films has been continued- in this instance the 1982 gore fest The New York Ripper– and the music follows the same ultra-groovy formula as always, this time around they’ve thrown a 90-degree curveball by including some very heavy-handed hip hop elements as well. You don’t even need to wait long for them to kick in, either; after a couple of minutes, the first track “Vile Butchery” (which is a banger) fades out to a cool looping beat that somehow feels both modern and old-fashioned at the same time by invoking the trademark atmosphere of ’80s synth soundtracks which were the driving force of so many cheesy horror flicks from that era. However, the pacing is admittedly a little strange because both songs are split into individual tracks even though they’re both quite short, so that makes it all feel a little inconsistent, like an exciting but incomplete thought. It might be an odd way to kick off the album, but it’s still refreshing to hear them stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something a little different.

Then, just before the halfway point of the album, they completely one-up themselves by including a verse from rapper Lord Goat, aka Goretex, of the long running underground New York hip hop group Non Phixion on the interlude track “Knife”. Some might call this random or even totally out of place, and I must admit it threw me for a loop the first time I heard it, but after revisiting it a few times and giving it some thought, I realized it actually fits the motif quite perfectly. After all, the whole album is essentially a fucked up, blood soaked love letter to an old film set in New York City, so it makes sense to include a born and bred New York artist, especially one who never quite blew up like their contemporaries but is still considered instrumental by those in the know. Plus the dude’s rapping about brutally murdering people and adorning his lair with their bones and severed limbs, so yeah, that’s metal as fuck.

Aside from the occasional foray into rap territory (which I personally would love to see a lot more of in extreme metal specifically), there is one other wild card at the end that will make you blink and do a double take. As the closing instrumental track “Il Miele del Diavolo” slowly builds to what seems to be a crescendo, suddenly a very tasteful saxophone solo kicks in out of nowhere and completely turns things on their head once more, arguably even more so than before. Now, obviously saxophones in metal isn’t a new thing, with Rivers of Nihil featuring the instrument heavily and consistently ever since Where Owls Know My Name, and with bands like The Faceless and even Napalm Death experimenting with them before that, but it still never ceases to surprise when it does show up, especially on an album as brutal as this. Rap I can understand, since there’s always been something of an unspoken parallel between the two genres, but smooth jazz? I can honestly say I did not see that coming, but y’know what, I ain’t mad at it either. If nothing else, it’s a very interesting and memorable way to close out the album.

Despite these scattered yet marked deviations from the norm, Duck Face Killings still has all of the usual trappings that one would expect from a band like this, and a smorgasbord of them at that. The riffs are deceptively simple and straightforward, but with palpable passion and confidence driving the album steadily forward like a steamroller with a V8 engine. This is Fulci at their most polished, uncompromising in their approach but comfortable enough in their identity to not shy away from throwing ideas at a wall to see what sticks. That sort of thing doesn’t always work, but this time they stuck the landing and ended up creating something pretty weird but thoroughly enjoyable. They’ll be hitting the road in the States as part of the Devastation on the Nation Tour with Morbid Angel, Suffocation and many more later this year, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to catch these new tunes in a live setting alongside a ton of other killer bands. Who knows, maybe they’ll bring Lord Goat out to spit some bars with them at the Brooklyn date, that would be pretty sick.

Duck Face Killings is available now via 20 Buck Spin, order your copy here