EP REVIEW: Noxious Concoctions – Ghoul

Despite their questionable stage names and their attire resembling if GWAR got caught up in the cost of living crisis, self-proclaimed splatterthrashers all the way from Creepsylvania, GHOUL have amassed an admirably large following. Their fans may not be too enamoured by the fact that it has taken eight years to return with new EP Noxious Concoctions which is available now via Tankcrimes but hopefully their first compositions since 2016’s Dungeon Bastards will equal the anticipation.

The Eyes Of The Witch is unconventionally expansive for a thrash release but the combination of an eerie witch incantation, punchy drumming and spooky riff work gets proceedings off to an intriguing start. As the track progresses we’re greeted by gritty vocal sequences and swift solo bursts to inject some additional excitement. Noxious Concoctions opts for a more rapid fire, straight to the point approach as crazed, energetic instrumentation ups the ante.

Shotgun Gulch leans towards the popular crossover stylings of yesteryear, combining vigorous drum segments with raspy vocal elements and charged solo runs. This demeanour flows seamlessly into Ratlicker, which sustains the enticing, edgy tones. The inclusion of a cover of now defunct Washington-based thrash outfit FUNEROT‘s 1-900-DTH-LINE is very on brand albeit brief.

The production style of Noxious Concoctions is very rough and ready but this actually works in its favour. However, considering this EP is only 18 minutes long, consists of one cover and one track weighing in at almost half of that runtime, it is questionable if this will be deemed as a sufficient outing after such an extensive hiatus. Regardless of this, the tracks that are on show provide a brief but enjoyable serving of high octane metal which show that the Californian quartet can still hang with their genre counterparts.

Rating: 7/10

Noxious Concoctions is out now via Tankcrimes.

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