Old Gods

Old Gods is a hardcore punk noise rock monster, founded by Jeff Tuttle, former guitarist of Dillinger Escape Plan and vocalist for this project, with Derek Swanson (Heads Will Roll) on bass, guitarist Randall Kupfer and drummer Tony Wolski. Together they have fashioned an unpredictable, inherently wild sound that delights in veering off into unexpected musical territory and has a penchant for erupting into moments of noisy excess. Their second offering, Stylized Violence, is a concept record devoted to exploring the horror genre and the ways that gore, violation and violence are represented in art an popular culture. Tracks like "Slaughtered Vomit Doll" and "Burlesque Suicide" examine the ways that sex and horror are tightly intertwined, the ways that desire shades into revulsion and attraction is closely knitted to the grotesque. "Grand Guignol" is devoted to more classical and literary explorations of violence and fear, whereas "Lament Configuration" is based on the Hellraiser films and associated mythos. Shattering and cerebral, Stylized Violence is as conceptually smart as it is musically relentless, Tuttle's acid vocals and the battering, broken song structures the perfect pairing for a high-minded examination of ugly culture.