The fifth studio album ‘Duck Face Killings’ is a vile and brutal onslaught. The fourteen tracks are just as infectiously engaging as the previous work, but there is an adage that the less-known bands always lurk under the radar, until I discovered them through their album ‘Tropical Sun’. Active since 2013, the band was founded by Klem (bass), Dome (guitars, synthesizers) and Fiore (vocals). With the addition of Edoardo Nicoloso (drums) and Ando Ferraiuolo (guitars) they reaffirm their talent in the latest installment.

However, besides the heavy tone of the low guttural growls, deep bass guitars and grisly unhinged moments in the opening track ‘Vile Butchery’, the burst of the groovy death metal riffs is one of the qualities that Fulci has honed since the debut album ‘Opening the Hell Gates’. Fulci inherited a taste for channeling the slow tempos and they usually craze us with the zombified growls. While this trait comes with morbid fascination and brings along the feeling of ass groove funky beats on ‘A Blade In The Dark’.

The blasting sections are insane on the following song ‘Fucked with a Broken Bottle’ which is a standout one and contains a barrage of double bass drums and furious blast beats where the sound of Fulci comes into its own. Chunky riffs craze the mood. The riffing element creates an atmosphere of a zombie apocalypse where the growls and the groove-laden riffs combine to give an effective atmosphere full of brutal energy.

The growling maintains a frenzy level on tracks like ‘Morbid Lust’, and ‘Maniac Unleashed’. The intensity is on display with the distorted tone of the bass guitar stabbing your heart. The drumming work is perfect: brutal and coated with chugs. The groove section keeps the violence and brutality flowing as if the whole album reeks of the stench of carcasses. Blast beats are utilized on a flawless and devastating level. There are some elements of slam injected as a dynamic syringe into the songs. The unique styling of Fulci triggers relentless double bass, grinding death metal. The guitars are on constant chugging, combining deep bass guitar rumble.

The short interlude track ‘Knife’ is a fucking rap song, seriously I don’t know if Fulci has pulled any weird gimmicks but the song is just awesome. The brutal lads are about to bang their heads to this song which features Lord Goat. Call it a badass gangster song until the guttural growls are used at the end.

The relentless chugging and the grinding drums continue on tracks like ‘Slashreality’, another killer song on the album that sounds very close to Cannibal Corpse’s Chris Barnes era. The old-school approach to this song is worthy of several spins. The growls of Fiore are monstrous and soaked with blood. ‘Human Scalp Collection’ is an intriguing piece of brutal death metal. The guitar melodies are wonderfully infused and sound catchy.

The riffs on the album vary in speed and technicality with dripping melodies wrapped in a brutal slab. The album’s title track ‘Duck Face Killings’ is dynamic combined with some excellent drum fills and slamming riffs.

Fulci chisels its sound to deliver gruesome chills. The drumming breaks into full blasts of thunder and the guitars can conjure a horrific atmosphere. There aren’t any filler songs, even the straightforward brutal tracks like ‘Rotten Apple’ and ‘Sadistic Murder’ are crushing and will get you head banging to the inflicting riffs.

‘Stabbed, Gutted and Loved’ and the closing track ‘Il Miele Del Diavolo’ both pack frenzy and melodic guitar work, Fulci gives another kind of experience on its fifth studio album. While the latter song includes some freaky and chilling synthesizers, the atmosphere alone builds suspense when the smooth jazz segment takes you by surprise with the saxophone instrument backed with the heavy wall of the guitars and drums.

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