UMUR "Buio Omega" is an EP release by US, Illinois based goregrind act Impetigo. The EP was originally released on 7" vinyl through the The Whisper In Darkness label in 1990. "Buio Omega" bridges the gap between the band´s debut and 2nd full-length studio albums "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale (1990)" and "Horror of the Zombies (1992)". Impetigo were formed in 1987 and released a couple of influential demos in the late 80s. They are often mentioned among the seminal US goregrind acts.

It´s probably wrong to call an act, that is widely considered seminal in their sub genre, generic and lacking an original sound, but that´s more or less how I would describe Impetigo on "Buio Omega". The music, on the 4 track, 10:07 minutes long EP (All tracks were featured in their original versions on "Ultimo Mondo Cannibale (1990)"), is strongly influenced by the early releases by Carcass and I think I hear a couple of nods toward early Napalm Death too. Because of the goregrind image and lyrics Carcass predominantly comes to mind. Impetigo generally have a more humourous B-Horror movie way of writing lyrics which is also obvious from reading song titles like "Dear Uncle Creepy" and "Bitch Death Teenage Mucous Monster From Hell". Although this is undeniably gory and vile, it´s also supposed to be fun (in a bizarre way).

The musicianship are generally sloppy and the material sounds like it´s primarily written for shock value rather than for cathiness or longivity. The sound production makes the music sound muddy, dark, and noisy. The vocals are loud in the mix and vary between unintelligible deep growling, more aggressive intelligible growling, and higher pitched screaming. The pace varies between slow parts and eruptions of blast beat sections. Very noisy and unless you are into this type of goregrind also a bit hard to appreciate. Impetigo may be a seminal act on the US goregrind scene, but they quite frankly sound amaturish and I´m on the verge of calling this a poor release. I´ll settle with a 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating and recommend that you listen to other US goregrind acts from that era before this one. Acts like Repulsion and Nuclear Death come to mind.

UMUR "Giallo" is a demo by American goregrind/ death metal act Impetigo. The demo was released in 1989. The original demo is a collector´s item but the seven tracks from the demo was re-released in 2000 by Half-Life Records as part of the "Giallo / Antefatto" compilation album. The compilation also contained 3 tracks from the 1991 "Antefatto" split EP with Blood and two outtakes from the "Giallo" recording session.

The music on the seven tracks on "Giallo" is kitchy/ B-Horror Movie influenced goregrind. It´s not particularly well played and the sound quality is not that good either. It´s to be expected on a 1989 goregrind demo though, and there is a slight charm to the sound. The tracks of course bear titles like "Bitch Death Teenage Mucous Monster From Hell", "The Revenge of the Scabby Man", "Dear Uncle Creepy" and "Venereal Warts" so you know exactly where we are when it comes to the lyrical content. While Impetigo are to be counted among the instigators of the goregrind genre I can´t say this demo does much to convince me of the band´s qualities and a 2 star rating is warranted.

UMUR Giallo / Antefatto is a compilation release by American goregrind/ death metal act Impetigo. The album was released in 2000 by Half-Life Records. The first 9 tracks are taken from the 1989 Giallo demo while the last 3 tracks are taken from the 1991 Antefatto split EP with Blood. Both are rare releases with only limited availability, so this compilation is an opportunity to check out some of the early releases by one of the instigators of the goregrind genre.

With titles like Bitch Death Teenage Mucous Monster From Hell, The Revenge of the Scabby Man, Dear Uncle Creepy and Venereal Warts it´s probably not hard to tell that we´re dealing with one of the more kitchy/ B-Horror Movie influenced goregrind acts out there. The difference between Impetigo and the thousands of similar acts that have followed, is first and foremost that Impetigo were one of the first acts to play the style. The quality of the 9 tracks from the Giallo demo are a bit below average for the genre both when it comes to musicianship, production and songwriting. I find some of the tracks interesting but not really great. The 3 tracks from the Antefatto split EP are hard for me to listen to though. Bad murky sound quality, noise and more noise. I like my goregrind raw and filthy, but this is far from quality material.

I can´t say this compilation does much for me personally and I would only recommend it to fans of raw, filthy, underproduced goregrind with nasty kitchy lyrics. A 2 star rating is warranted.