The attractions of gore to the modern human mind are deep and abiding. Visual representations of disembowelment and dismemberment long pre-date the advent of moving pictures, but of course film provided a vivid and still-thriving new medium for the rendition of disgusting torture and unhinged slaughter. Representations of gore in greater and lesser degrees of specificity have also fueled both fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as photography and the graphic arts.

And of course fixations on the degradation of the human body in other ways have gone hand-in-hand with depictions of gore, both real and imagined — degradations such as those caused by disease and post-mortem decay, implemented by the array of tiny creatures for whom our flesh grudgingly provides host-bodies and nourishment.

And of course, as lovers of extreme metal well know, our collective fascination with gore and bodily degradation extends beyond the art-forms mentioned above. It extends to and inspires the making of music, the more frightening and repulsive the better.

Undoubtedly, scholars of various stripes have attempted to explain why human beings are so morbidly fascinated by these subjects. We can’t be bothered to verify this, or investigate the theories, at least not today, because today we celebrate the fact of it, as represented by the music of a death metal band from Staten Island, New York whose name leaves no doubt about their inspirations: Festergore. Continue reading »