Review: Oxidase Nightmare – Contorting the Infinitiated Forms (Apollo’s Crotch, Aug 8)

Among countless other things, 2019 has seen many instances of experimentation and eclecticism within the goregrind aesthetic. With the punishing atmospheric noisecore of Cavatus and PKWST’s collaborative CD Ruins of Bronzemaw and the nightmarish, filthy death-doom of Miscarriage’s Imminent Horror, the horrifying qualities of gore that were once limited to a very formulaic set of tricks are now being transposed to a variety of new settings. Take Contorting the Infinitiated Forms for example, a barely six minute release that touches on genres from free improvisation to technical hardcore. Oxidase Nightmare’s debut doesn’t stick around for long, but its stylistic breadth is nothing short of dizzying, as the listener is whiplashed from the 1-2-3-4 snare count-in on “Contorting the Infinitiated Forms (Grief Across 600 Centuries)” to the squealing guitar fuckery of “Redistributed Enzyme Reduction” to some truly harrowing ambience on “Xenotype”—but it’s all united under a consistent atmosphere of brutality, rot, and viscera. It’s a testament to the sheer amount of ideas crammed into this release that I’m able to write so much about it.