Pungent Stench: Praise The Names of The Musical Assassins

Pungent Stench were always misunderstood, at least insofar as a band with absolutely no clue can be misunderstood. It's a good thing they could play their instruments, and for a while in the early-to-mid 90s they achieved a startling amount of relevancy for a band with an album called "Been Caught Buttering". Call them the missing link between AC and Gwar. Or don't call them at all, you might not like what's on their answering machine.

At any rate, by mid-decade (1995) Pungent Stench were no more, leaving only an extremely foul vapor in their midst and a handful of unreleased/rare tracks, which have been compiled (sans track listing- thanks NB!!) on Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins. Song titles aside, the liner notes are quite impressively reproduced, including a four-page list of presumably every show the band ever played, and also detailed documents concerning from whence these nuggets were mined. A full discography is lined out for the less seasoned fan, because according to "Mr. Stench"'s enclosed comments, once you hear these tracks you're going to need the whole collection. That's going too far, but you can't call yourself an educated death metal fan if you aren't familiar with some small portion of this band's work, and at 19 cuts Praise the Names... is all the Stench most will be able to stomach.

For the time frame in which Pungent Stench existed, it's hard to deny them their place in death metal history. But it's equally difficult to dispute the fact that the band's demise will undoubtedly fuel their legend far more than if they'd stuck around to become just another consistent group hashing it out on the extreme metal circuit. Because for all the engaging thrash on Praise The Names... the one thing it all has in common is a stubborn resistance to progression. But Pungent Stench were never meant to be an eternal threat. More like a bad fart that lingers around for awhile and fades while the memory's still fresh.

Added: January 1st 2004
Reviewer: SoT Archives
Score:
Hits: 4191
Language: english

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