If you think the album cover is a little odd (a drawing of the Balatonizer boys amongst pigs and a horned donkey) wait until the booklet is opened and there is a bizarre comic involving the band (the guitarist works for Marvel Europe). Then there is the disc art of erect penises, ropy bursts of semen and open female mouths. Is Baltanoizer comic superhero pornogrind? Uh...
I have no idea what to label the Italians known as Balatonizer. At times they sound like Mortician (due to the guttural gurgle and drum machine) but then their riffs are too akin to grindcore. Then they screw the genre labels all up, throw in a techno dance or a Spaghetti Western sample and decide to can brutality for 30 seconds! Did I mention they also solo? So you have synth blast beats, gurgled vocals, thick guitars, and oddball samples… now you are probably thinking I am taking about Bloodduster. Gah!
That’s the problem. ‘Occlused in Ottusity’ fits 25 minutes of bizarre grindcore gibberish metal into 30 tracks. As soon as a spectacular riff hits, the next song has taken over and the listener is bombarded with the next. After a few minutes it all blends together and really gets confusing.
Sure, Balatanizer tries to mix things up and quell the white noise, but it isn’t that memorable and comes off a tad kooky. With thousands of other bands doing something similar, ‘Occlused in Ottusity’ will be lost in obscurity.
Only rabid grind fans apply here, as you won’t be disappointed. The rest of the metal populace will want to skip Balatonizer.
Rate: 4/10

By Don Rottenbucher