I am a core guy, which means metalcore, deathcore, along with its myriad sub, micro, and nanogenres are my playground. However, there is an itch for something dirtier, something nastier, something more brutal, that sticks to the side of my brain. An itch that only more extreme genres like slam and brutal death metal can scratch.

Stabbing’s sophomore record, Eon of Obscenity, scratches that itch.

Following their excellent debut album, 2022’s Extirpated Mortal Process, this Texas brutal death quartet did not let up any momentum for their next offering. The singles off Eon of Obscenity are exactly what the brutal doctor ordered. No frills, no pizzazz, just devastation. The first single, “Inhuman Torture Chamber,” is the sub-three-minute kick in the teeth I did not know I needed. Laden with ferocious riffs, groovy chugs, and pinch harmonics galore, the track pummels you while expertly weaving through different moods, from stomping brutality to sharp technicality. The title track, “Eon of Obscenity,” goes in a more death metal direction, but is no less destructive. Echoing modern Rutan-era Cannibal Corpse with the riffage (now with more pinch harmonics!), the blast-beat-laden track doesn’t stick in caveman territory, testing the waters with some tasteful tremolo-picked “melodies”.

The rest of the record proceeds at nigh-breakneck pace, without taking its boot off the listener’s neck for very long. The vibe that Stabbing creates in Eon of Obscenity is as punishing as Defeated Sanity’s later works, albeit with less unpredictable jaggedness. While most of the brutally short runtime is spent in brutal-death land, tracks like “Ruminations” add dissonant melodies to their sludgier sections, similar to Disentomb. The deathcore fanboy in me always sits smugly assuming the extreme bands in that genre are the pinnacle of “heaviness” in the scene, then I am hit in the jugular by these four Texans with tracks like “Nauseating Composition” (featuring Ricky Myers of Suffocation, ex-Disgorge). The longest tracks on the record clock in at just over four minutes with “Their Melted Remains” and “Symphony of Absurdity”. A track like “Sonoluminescent Hemoglobinopathy” warrants a spin for the name alone, gotta love brutal death metal aesthetics!

If Stabbing charged us per pinch harmonic, we’d all be broke! There are SO MANY PINCH HARMONICS, yet not enough!

It is no surprise that Stabbing puts out such stellar music, since the band is composed of genre veterans. Guitarist Marvin Ruiz comes from his extensive catalog in brutal death demigods Devourment (who are synonymous with the genre). His complete mastery over the elements of brutal death metal is on full display with every riff, every chug, every squeal. His scooped mid guitar tones make the guitars sound sludgy and filthy, exactly what the genre demands. The bass is prominent, and the lines written by Matt Day keep that low-end thumping away. Drummer Alex Hetsko (newly in the tech-deathcore band Enterprise Earth and The Xebellian Triangle) is a demon behind the kit. In particular, the snare is flat, raw, and visceral, staying true to the genre trope, not relying on modern studio magic, just his raw power and control. Vocalist Bridget Lynch is a goddamn institution and is severely underrated. There has been an explosion of women in the scene recently, with many becoming prominent members in extreme metal bands, and Bridget is walking in the front row. Her vocals are superlative in the brutal death metal genre; her growls are indistinguishable from burly male vocalists three times her size. I only wish she would step away from the growls-gurgles-only approach, for when she teases us with highs like on “Eon of Obscenity”, it is maniacally awesome!

Stabbing’s Eon of Obscenity is another giant step forward for this new Brutal Death Metal band (almost a supergroup). With ten tracks of unrelenting brutality, this record will be a treat for genre veterans as well as a great starter record for those who want to put some hair on their chest and sample more extreme death metal!