Fart of Doom: a reissue of an Italian metal band album

Metal, irony, and toilet humor

The Italian metal band Merdiolence, whose name is a sort of blending of the words: merda (sh*t) and violence, before changing their name after their first release was part of the underground scene.

“Fart of Doom,” the 1993 demo tape by Florentine death-grind band MERDIOLENCE, was reissued by Danex Records. The group changed their name to CRYOGEN shortly after the demo was made available, and they continued to perform until the early 2000s. The date of the vinyl release was June 23, 2023.

Merdiolence was one of the forerunners of the early 1990s Tuscan death metal genre, according to metalitalia.com. Filippo Frizzi (guitar and vocals) and Andrea Bracali (drums) founded the group in 1991. They composed three unreleased cassettes of improvised no-fi grindcore, insane screaming, and ironic lyrics at home using homemade instruments and rudimentary equipment. They changed to a trio in the middle of 1991 with Matteo Bennici on bass and vocals, then to a quartet with Vesco on rhythm guitar until Niccol Gallio took his place in 1992. They immediately created their own sound, drawing inspiration from groups like Pestilence, Carcass, and Gorefest, and made their live debut in April 1993.

A few weeks later, they make their first official recording, Fart of Doom, which consists of three tracks of fast, original death metal with tempo changes, acoustic inserts, and desecrating lyrics. The self-made demo tape helped Merdiolence establish a cult in Florence and influence other bands at the time. On the back of this initial success, they attempted to establish a name for themselves outside of the local area by producing material that was more sophisticated and complicated, geared toward a more technical and symphonic death, and they made the decision to assume a more “serious” character. As a result, Merdiolence became Cryogen in the spring of 1993.

“We used to rehearse in a basement under the church of Isolotto in Florence, shared with other bands, called “la buchina” because of its size and stench. After rehearsals, we would listen to metal (and more) from the croaking stereo of Filippo’s Talbot Samba. In April 1993, we did our first live show in front of a small audience, which showed its enthusiasm with a wild pogo. A few days later, we booked our first studio session at All Music and, in a single day, recorded the tracks of Fart of Doom. The sound engineer was a perplexed but patient Jeppe Catalano, to whose memory this record is dedicated. We printed 300 copies on cassettes with hand-drawn and photocopied artwork and passed them around by word of mouth. In June 1993, at the Flog, we did our last concert under the name Merdiolence. At that point, a new chapter began, and many things happened, the best of which was that we remained friends. But those first two years as Merdiolence remain unforgettable. Now, 30 years later, this record is meant to be a tribute to that ‘Buchina spirit’ and to all the people we shared that time with.”, Merdiolence, 2023