PUNGENT STENCH — "Club Mondo Bizarre" for Members Only (review)

Album · 1994 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2015-08-31
UMUR

"Club Mondo Bizarre - for Members Only" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Austrian extreme metal act Pungent Stench. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in March 1994. The vinyl version of the album features 10 tracks while the CD version features 4 additional instrumental versions of tracks from the album. They were originally meant for a competition, where the band asked their fans to send in the most sick vocals they could possibly perform. The most sick and perverted vocal contribution would then be released on a single or as a bonus track on a future Pungent Stench release. I remember reading interviews with the band, where they enthusiastially spoke about the competition, but as far as I know the result of the competition has yet to be released. There are several different cover artworks for "Club Mondo Bizarre - for Members Only" and several of them are censored because of their explicit sexual nature. The original cover artwork is full of pictures of the band wearing S/M gear posing in a S/M club and I guess that´s too much for the authorities in many countries around the world (fortunately not in mine. To each his own I say).

If the cover artwork didn´t give it straight away, the perverted gore themes of previous releases by Pungent Stench are continued here, which is also apparent from reading songtitles like "Klyster Boogie", "In Search of the Perfect Torture" and "Fuck Bizarre". Pungent Stench were never a subtle bunch of guys. Stylistically the band has moved completely into death´n´roll territory. That part of their sound was already introduced on "Been Caught Buttering (1991)" and refined a little more on the "Dirty Rhymes and Psychotronic Beats (1993)" EP, but the transition from their early deathgrind days is now over. Besides the raw semi-growling vocals, you´ll actually find very few death metal elements on "Club Mondo Bizarre - for Members Only". The tracks are based on relatively simple and groove oriented riffs (which are for the most part surprisingly "non groovy" and stiff sounding) and while some tracks deviate from what sounds like a vers/chorus structured format, the tracks aren´t that adventurous when it comes to structure. The band often repeat their ideas too many times during the tracks and as a consequence most tracks feel longer than they are and sometimes they are a bit of a tedious listen. Sure a track like "Klyster Boogie" brings a smile to my face, but I generally don´t smile enough during the playing time and that´s never a good sign.

The sound production is organic, fat, and relatively powerful, and the band are decently playing (without showing anything out of the ordinary). All in all "Club Mondo Bizarre - for Members Only" is a decent album, but I have no problem if there are years between my listens and when I do listen to the album it mostly comes off after a few tracks. At least to me it´s a step down from "Been Caught Buttering (1991)" and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

more than 2 years ago
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Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I used to have this album, but I got rid of it. Can't remember why, and have been regretting it ever since. The monkey on the cover really enjoyed himself...