Blast Worship: Putrid Parrot

Where they from?
West Haven, Connecticut. I actually grew up in southern Connecticut for the first ten years of my life and let me tell ya, that place is BORING AS FUCK. By the time we were getting ready to leave the big news for our town was that they finally opened up a single screen movie theater next to the Stop & Shop. SINGLE SCREEN! The only movie I ever saw there was Adam Sandler’s Little Nicky, the cinematic milestone that marked the beginning of one of the most horrifically bad stretches of a movie career as Hollywood has ever known. The soundtrack was pretty cool, though — I remember really digging the song P.O.D. did for it.

Why the hype?
So, what exactly is up with grindcore and parrots? We are all familiar with Blake Harrison’s work with Hatebeak, the world’s leading bird-fronted extreme metal band and For Those About To Squawk has been one of Decibel’s most beloved and longest-running features. There must be something about birds that can talk that just screams “FUCKING METAL!” to some people.

Putrid Parrot are a grindcore one-piece who’s name is an orthicological play on beloved death metal solo artist Putrid Pile. And much like the ol’ Pile, Putrid Parrot is exceptional at what he does, combining crusty old grindcore tropes in the vein of Enemy Soil with the cybernetic kill ratio of brutal death metal to create music that is both surprisingly heavy and yet somehow instantly palpable. I had the pleasure of catching this “band” live recently at a skate park in Connecticut and being impressed with how sharp and tight everything was, but it wasn’t until he covered Enemy Soil’s “Hypocrisy” that I truly went the fuck off. PP is one of those rare bands that could appeal as much to the mincing Agathocles crowd as it could

Latest Release?
“Between the Grinding Teeth of Time: Split w/Thejudasobscure.” Normally I am not a big fan of those bouncy caveman parts (pogo riffs?) but they work so well on “Mashed Potatoes” that I can’t help but bounce my head along. It’s kind of like everything on this album, nothing that happens here is especially new or ground-breaking, but it just has that certain specific element of being done really well that an ocean of other bands just lack for whatever reason. I think part of it too is the drum machine here is perfect tonally for the music: it’s just retro enough that it’s slightly outdated tones actually add perfectly to the overall harshness of the music. Also, there’s a song called “Shitgrinder.”