After a sequence of splits, EP’s and singles, the second full-length release from Mancunian death metal mob Foetal Juice finally exposes the band’s darkest secret – that underneath all the songs about bodily fluids, blue waffles, and human waste, lurks a group of serious musicians.

It’s pointless to even try and use the words like “maturity” and “growth” with a straight face when dealing with song titles like ‘Take Your Face For a Shit’, ‘Antagonistic Bastard’ and ‘Septic Mollusc’, but there’s much more to Gluttony (Gorehouse Productions) than the explosion in a diarrhoea factory you might expect.

‘Manifestation of Falsity’, ‘Trepidation’, ‘Metamorphosis’, ‘Nether Pandemonium’ and the Cannibal Corpse influenced ‘Carnage’ all contain a monstrous groove amongst the punishing death metal and grindcore relentlessness, while ‘Venomous Domination’, ‘Worthless Delusion’ and closer ‘Spirit Leech’ are designed purely to cause moshpits to devolve into mass cannibalistic orgies of blood, death, and auto-evisceration just like the kebab-slurping promo video which accompanies the title track.

Frontman Derek Carley stretches his vocal cords to the limit, ranging from higher-range shrieks to guttural, bile-dripping roars, the riffs come thick and fast from guitarist Ryan Whittaker, and the rhythm section of bassist Lewis Bridges and drummer Rob Harris really get a chance to shine with the solid, beefy production.

Combining the silliness of earlier releases with a more focused approach, Gluttony is like sloshing through blood on an abattoir floor before slipping face-first into an industrial-sized bucket of rancid offal. Brutal extreme metal, heavier than a lorryload of decaying elephant arses and twice as pungent.

That’s a good thing by the way.

8/10

GARY ALCOCK