Fulgora: Stratagem

Grind/death adepts brew up a new batch of brutality

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The natural and immediate thing to do upon hearing that two-thirds of Fulgora can also be found ripping it up in Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Misery Index is construct a web of comparison.

Of course, a certain amount of DNA gets spread with the inclusion of drummer Adam Jarvis and his bassist cousin John, but the importance of Fulgora’s other principal third, guitarist/vocalist BL LaMew, shouldn’t be discounted.

While it’s obvious he’s spent more than a few nights drifting off into deep sleep with Pig Destroyer’s Prowler In The Yard on repeat, there are also sneaky drop-passes from turn-of-the- century screamo (think Orchid and City Of Caterpillar) in his vocal approach and enough finger-twisting guitar chords employed to have Voivod’s Piggy air-guitaring in his grave.

The death metal angle provided by the curious ferocity of LaMew’s riffing and Adam’s frenetic drumming helps with the forceful intensity of Meridian, the Voivod and screamo influence offer dollops of technical flash and surprising melodic strains in Crutch and Artifice, the grind injects groove everywhere and everyone smiles with bruised and bloodied lips./o:p