There are dozens of great pairings that one could identify in life: apple pie and ice cream, chocolate and peanut butter, and of course, death metal and horror movies. The latter of which is where Fulci comes in. Named of course for the Italian horror icon, Lucio Fulci, this band is one that has been pumping out records based on his lore for quite a while and today we’re talking about their new one, Duck Face Killings. Before you start having flashbacks to that awful selfie trend from the 2010’s, this is about something much worse: a serial killer from Lucio Fulci’s The New York Ripper, a sinister film about a serial killer terrorizing women and doing so while making duck sounds. Yeah, it sounds bizarre and a bit goofy but apparently this movie is pretty reviled still and was banned for decades in certain parts of the world. It’s depraved, gross, and on the fringe of what’s acceptable. So, basically a perfect blueprint for a death metal record, right?
I’ve loved this band since I first came across their groovy, guttural approach and having a bit of a consistent theme that holds the catalog together is also a bit of an added bonus. Much in the way that Nile celebrates the mysteries and legends of ancient Egypt, death metal can often employ this tactic to great effect, and in the case of Fulci, they have plenty of stories to tell with the filmography of their namesake. On Duck Face Killings the band have quite the dismal story to tell, but remember this is all for entertainment and riffs, no one was actually killed to bring this story to life. So let’s press play on this depravity and see what’s shakin’.
One of the most important parts of any horror film or book is ‘the slingshot.’ That bit of the story that we’re fed first – usually without context – to launch us into the narrative and the world in which it takes place. This is the case for Duck Face Killings, Fulci have mimicked that approach with this record with the first few songs. “Vile Butchery” opens with a sample from the film that inspired it where a coroner from the film assesses the murderer’s work as ‘good, efficient butchery’ before the band launches headfirst into the maelstrom of riffs, leads, and that thunderous rhythm section of theirs. It’s a great introduction to their style. As is the case with most horror film slingshots, they’re shown before the title screen in the movie appears, and Fulci use “A Blade in the Dark” as their opening credits as it were, as this is a little synth interlude that is brief but gives us a moment to settle into the world that has just been introduced before we jump headlong into the next moment. It’s perfect.
The track that picks up immediately after that little ditty is the painfully titled “Fucked with a Broken Bottle.” Again aptly placed in the track list as a way to snap the listener back into the depravity after that little breather in track two. The riffs feel classic 90’s death metal here and reference bands like Immolation and Monstrosity in the best ways all while we feel extra gross for even listening to a song titled thus. Damn catchy though. I think that’s what makes Fulci work so well is the juxtaposition of violence and accessibility, and this is a trend that continues on this album. “Morbid Lust” is where the album really takes off with its galloping rhythm and and there are some melodeath-adjacent riffs in there, a la early Amon Amarth.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention “Knife” in particular, because this is one that I’m still not sure about and am really enjoying pondering. I noticed that Lord Goat of Non Phixion was credited in a guest role on Duck Face Killings but didn’t really think much about it until this track started up and I thought that I had somehow shuffled to a different record. If you’re not sure who this is and why I had that reaction, you’ll know when you get there. I guarantee it. Maybe I should land on an opinion for this track but I’m happy waffling on it for the time being.
There are times when I care less about lyrics in metal and by that I mean most all of the damn time. On a record like this one and with a band like Fulci who are intentionally retelling and reinterpreting horrific tales from another medium, I find that I want to follow along a little more. That in my mind gives a little space to be a tad more lenient on how the record sounds, how good the grooves hit, and if there are enough memorable riffs and solos. Thankfully there’s plenty here to enjoy in both columns. Breakdowns, pinch harmonics, tempo slides, divebombs, and a vocal presence that’s both legible and menacing, it’s all here. There are times when one song is difficult to distinguish from another as a lot of this record tends to sit in the same pocket, but there’s nothing flat out boring or bad here. The album is also quite efficient with a total of 14 tracks (this total does include two interludes, which both slap by the way) clocking in just shy of 33 minutes. It moves, it grooves, it kills.
Fulci haven’t rested on their laurels creatively in a long time, with each record having not only a different story to tell but stylistically they have managed to be nimble but never really veering so far out of character that they feel like a different band. Their last record Exhumed Information was essentially a collaboration with TV-Crimes adding in plenty of cool synth tracks to the track list. This time around? Fewer interludes but a couple of surprising guest spots and a nice noir jazz outro. They never completely rewrite their own playbook but are a-ok with exploring complementary ideas that will add variety and dynamics to their tried-and-true death metal butchery. Duck Face Killings is a blast to listen to and only gets more gruesome with each subsequent listen. This is a record that I’ve been looking forward to ever since 20 Buck Spin signed them and it simply didn’t disappoint. It’s loud, gross, depraved, creative, and ‘good, efficient butchery.’
