Sewer Goddess’ 2010 CD debut, “With Dirt You Are One”, seemed to come and go in the blink of a rotted eye, and while there have been numerous tape, compilation, and live recordings since then, nothing could possibly prepare you for the evolution in sound that has occurred since then. Recent material and performances have certainly hinted at it, but “Painlust” goes beyond all expectations and delivers what is up to this point, their benchmark recording. Now backed by a full fledged band and recorded in studio, Kristen Rose and co. have taken a blade to the original Sewer Goddess template and ceremoniously cut the fat, leaving a lean, sinewy carcass that’s as much doom metal as it death industrial. The 6 tracks here are an asphyxiating death march that’s concise and devastatingly heavy, the lurching, sludge driven guitar, dissonant riffs, and bass all in a rigid lockstep with heaving, pneumatic percussion. Bound with bewitching and often maniacal vocal shrieks and moans, and heaps of ghastly electronic filth, it’s a brilliant dichotomy between human and machine, resulting in a listening experience that’s at once enthralling and terrifying. In jewel box with 8 page booklet, designed by Andre Coelho.
